


Rock Around The Clock

by ScorchedAngel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Back to the Future Au, First Meetings, First Time, Impala Sex, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 00:53:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3361784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScorchedAngel/pseuds/ScorchedAngel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You built a time machine...out of the Impala?"</p>
<p>Having a mad scientist for a brother, you'd think Sam would be used to things going wrong...like accidentally getting sent 60 years into the past. It was a complicated enough situation before Sam ran into his boyfriend, looking exactly the same, going by a different name. As Dean tries to figure out how to get back to their own time, Sam tries to figure out how Gabriel can exist in two time periods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2014 round of Sabriel Big Bang!
> 
> Thank you to [TricksterAngelGabriel](http://tricksterangelgabriel.tumblr.com)/[SlashGod](http://archiveofourown.org/users/SlashGod/profile) for her [amazing art!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3362312) I've been extremely lucky.
> 
> And thank you to [MercifulSammy](http://mercifulsammy.tumblr.com/)/[Bates](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Bates/profile) for stepping in as Beta!

Every student in the lecture theatre turned to look at Sam as the Imperial March blared from his cell phone. He glanced around the room innocently for a moment before he realised the music was coming from his pocket.

“You going to turn that off Sam?” Professor Jameson said, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry Sir,” he mumbled, fumbling for the phone. When he saw Dean’s name on the caller ID he couldn’t help feeling slightly nervous. Dean never called him in the middle of the day and would know he was in class. He declined the call, set the phone to vibrate and tried to convince himself it was just a pocket dial. As the professor went back to his lecture, Sam started to relax. He knew he was being silly, but his mind always went to the worst case scenario. He almost jumped out of his chair when the phone on his desk started vibrating. Dean was calling again. He tried to ignore it. He would just send him a text…

But Dean wouldn’t call unless it was an emergency. Sam’s mind raced, coming up with every possible scenario- Something wrong with Dean, something wrong with Dad, something wrong with Gabriel. He’d forgotten an important appointment. He’d accidentally done something illegal and the police were looking for him. Someone had crashed into his car...

Before he lost his mind, he squeezed his way to the end of his row and slipped out the back of the room. He found himself in a large echoey hallway lined with doors to other classrooms. As soon as the door closed behind him, Sam dialled Dean and pressed the phone to his ear. When Dean didn’t answer after the first two rings, he began to panic again. What if Dean had needed his help and he’d ignored him? He could be lying in a ditch somewhere and it would be all Sam’s fault. How was he going to tell Dad?

“Hello?”

“Dean!” he all but shouted into the phone. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“I’m great Sam! Are you okay?” Dean said cheerfully.

Sam took a moment to remember how to speak. “I...I have class! Why were you calling?”

“Oh yeah,” Dean said, as though it wasn’t less than five minutes since he’d called him. “I have _unbelievable_ news! I don’t want to tell you over the phone though. Can you come and meet me?”

Sam raised his arms in a silent question to no one in particular. “Uh...sure. Do you need me to come right now?” He checked his watch, he’d only miss the last 15 minutes of the lecture if he left now.

“No no,” Dean said casually, “there’s no rush. Just come to the parking lot at the Twin Pines Mall at 1.15 in the morning, okay? I’ll see you there.”

“1.15am?” Sam repeated, his voice high. But Dean had already hung up. “What the hell?” he muttered to himself and he slipped his phone into his pocket. What the hell could Dean possibly want to show him so urgently that he had called him in the middle of class but could wait until 1.15am? He rolled his eyes and went back to class.

-o-o-

“Are you staying? Want to go to bed?” Gabe asked, standing in the doorway between his bedroom and the living room. The question had been casual, but the poorly hidden smirk at the corner of his lips suggested he had other activities on his mind.

They’d just spent the past three hours watching Game of Thrones and Sam felt like he could nod off right there on the couch. “No, not yet. I’m going to meet Dean,” he replied, checking his watch.

“What? It’s almost midnight,” Gabe said, sounding almost suspicious. “Where are you going at this time?”

“The parking lot of the Twin Pines Mall...” Sam said, realising how that would sound.

“Uh...huh...” Gabe replied slowly. “Is there something you haven’t told me? Is Dean trolling parking lots for hook-ups or something? I can’t imagine him having to sink to that level, but I guess if you’re trying to keep it quiet you—“

“No, Gabe, ew. He said he has to tell me something. I have no idea what it is but he seemed really really excited about it.”

Gabe gave a slow nod. “Oh right…” he cleared this throat before adding, “But not excited enough to tell you before midnight?”

Sam shrugged. “I really have no idea. You know what he’s like. He’s probably just discovered some new kind of lights for his car or wants to bounce a laser off the moon.” Dean had always objected to the terms ‘Mad Scientist’ or ‘Crackpot Inventor’, but based on his track record, Sam thought both suited him perfectly. This was far from the first time Dean had called to tell him about something he considered exciting, but it was the first time he’d demanded his assistance at 1.15am.

“When do you have to leave?”

“Uh, 12.45 I guess?” Sam said, thinking about the early class he had the next morning and groaning to himself.

“And you’re just going to wait here till then?” Gabe said, sounding disappointed.

Sam nodded. “Is that okay?”

“I’m offended you think you have to ask,” Gabriel said as he crossed the room and gave Sam a long, deep kiss.

When they broke apart, Sam grinned. “What was that for?”

“Just a little something to keep you satisfied,” he said, before planting one last kiss on the top of Sam’s head. “Behave yourself,” he added before going to bed.

Sam stretched out on the couch and turned the TV back on. He hoped something with a lot of fighting or explosions would help keep him awake. He settled on The Expendables which Gabe had TiVoed last week. He went to the kitchen and poured himself a huge glass of water to keep him alert, and settled back on the couch as the titles rolled.

The next thing he knew, Sylvester Stallone was driving a pickup truck in a fire fight and his phone was ringing.

“Hello?” he croaked, his attempt to sound awake already failing.

“Sammy, you fell asleep, didn’t you?” Dean said in reply.

“Uh…no?” Sam said, glancing at his watch. 12.28. He could still make it.”

“Whatever. Listen, my phone battery is about to die. Could you stop by my place and bring my bio-generator and charger?”

Sam rolled his eyes. Dean’s bio-generator was a huge black box that he’d intended to be portable, but ended up the size of a large microwave. “Sure,” he said, shrugging in defeat. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, something to feed the generator. Some old fruit will do fine.”

“Alright, whatever. I’m on my way.”

-o-o-

Getting the generator into the car had been a struggle. It didn’t fit into the trunk of Sam’s car so he ended up putting it in the passenger seat and wrapping the seatbelt around it. He’d noticed a few of the neighbours peeking through their curtains. They probably thought he’d broken into Dean’s house to steal an archaic TV…and some potatoes.

With the generator safely strapped in and Dean’s charger and ‘fuel’ in the back seat, Sam arrived at the mall parking lot. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Dean’s car. It was covered top to bottom in extra lights, spoilers and exhaust pipes and what looked like an extra engine on top of the trunk. The same car Dean had hit him for putting a sticker on now looked like it had driven, magnetised, through a junkyard.

Sam pulled up beside Dean and the car and stared through the window in disbelief. He was tinkering under the hood like he would in his own garage and didn’t even seem to notice Sam’s arrival. Making as much noise as he could, Sam got out of the car and retrieved the generator from the front seat. Dean still failed to notice him. “Uh, Dean?” he said carefully so as not to startle him.

Dean looked up and straightened when he saw Sam. “Hey man! What’ve you got there?”

Sam looked down at the generator in his hands. “Your bio-gen! You asked me to bring it!” he said in astonishment.

“Oh right!” Dean said, “My phone! Just throw it in the trunk.”

“Uh…” Sam looked at the trunk and the pile of extra parts on top of it. Dean followed his gaze and added, “Or the back seat.”

When Sam opened the car door he realised the inside had just as many adornments as the outside. He deposited the generator and went to stand by Dean, who was now riffling around under the hood of Sam’s car.

“Dean,” he said, trying to sound as calm as possible, “what the hell is going on here?”

Dean stoop up, holding what Sam was pretty sure was his car’s starter, and beamed. “This is the big one Sammy. The one I’ve been dreaming about my whole life. I finally did it. It really is possible!”

Sam sighed. He knew his brother was doing this on purpose. He was always so dramatic. “What’s possible Dean?” he asked indulgently.

Dean’s smile stayed put. “Time travel Sam!”

Sam studied Dean’s face for any sign this might be a joke, but Dean’s expression never faltered. “You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack,” Dean said with a wide grin, and went to install the new part in his car.

“Wait,” Sam said, following him, “this is it?”

“You bet!” Dean said without looking up.

“Are you telling me, you built a time machine… out of the Impala?”

“Look, the way I see it, if you’re going to build a time machine into a car, why not look like a badass doing it?” Dean grinned as he turned to face Sam.

“And you’ve tried it?” Sam said, still struggling to believe any of it.

“I’ve…run some simulations. They almost all worked out,” Dean said dismissively. “This will be the first real attempt.”

Sam’s eyes widened in realisation. “You’re not putting me in that thing!”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Relax,” he said, opening the front passenger door of the car, “you’re just here to film it for me.” He pulled out a black plastic container and practically dropped it as his feet with a mumbled ‘oops’. He slipped on a pair of chemical gloves and carefully opened the black case.

Dean showing any sign of caution always made Sam nervous. It either meant he was doing something he shouldn’t be, or he was doing something extremely dangerous. “What ya got there buddy?” he asked as calmly as he could.

Dean put a gloved hand into the contained and pulled out a piece of metal, about the size of a tennis ball. “Enriched uranium,” he said happily.

“What?” Sam shouted.

“Relax, it’s not even dangerous. I only need a little.”

“Where did you even get that?” Sam asked, incredulous.

“Internet,” Dean shrugged. He went to the front of the car and inserted the uranium in a tank under the hood. “It needs a nuclear reaction to fuel it,” he explained to Sam, in much the same way one might explain how a toaster works. “Then the flux capacitor uses flux compression to hold back-“

Sam waved a hand to silence his brother. “Save me the technobabble. You’re totally making half these things up.”

“Of course I am! I invented them,” Dean proclaimed as he hopped into the driver’s seat and waved Sam closer. “Here, take this,” he said, pulling a stopwatch from his coat pocket. “It’s perfectly synced to mine.”

Sam noticed the stopwatch around Dean’s neck for the first time. “What are these for?”

“I’ll show you! I’m going to travel one minute into the future,” Dean said excitedly. “You should be filming this,” he added.

“Oh, right…” Sam muttered, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He was surprised to see he had four missed calls. Two from Gabe and two from an unknown number. Before he could get a chance to worry about it, Dean had started the engine. He gestured for Sam to start rolling.

“When Baby here reaches 88 miles per hour, she should have created enough KE to trigger a reaction, with the help of a few of my…accessories.”

Sam panned over the whole car, mainly because there was no way Dad would believe what Dean had done to it. “How are you going to make it to 88 miles per hour in a parking lot?” Sam asked as he observed how much space there was.

“The old fashioned way, Dean said as he got out of the car and beckoned Sam over to look under the hood.

Sam, and his phone, peered under to hood and saw the cans of nitrous oxide Dean had installed. “Fair enough…” he muttered.

As Dean was about to close the hood, he paused and turned his head, looking concerned for the first time since Sam had arrived. “Did you tell anyone you were coming here?” he hissed.

Sam thought quickly. “No, uh, just Gabe.”

“Damnit Sam!” Dean dropped the hood and got back in the driver’s seat. Sam realised he could hear sirens getting gradually closer.

“Dean, what’s going on?” he demanded, shoving his phone back in his pocket.

“It doesn’t matter, just get in the car!” Dean said frantically.

“Dean!” Sam shouted.

Dean sighed in defeat as the sirens got closer. “I didn’t get the uranium online, okay? I stole it from the university.”

“What?” Sam said, running to get into the car. He could just see the police cars’ flashing lights coming into view.

“Turns out you can’t buy all that much of it at once and it wouldn’t work without it.” He revved the engine and looked over his shoulder. “I’ll just go forwards by a few hours and by then they’ll be gone.”

“If it actually works!” Sam couldn’t help thinking they’d be better off taking their chances with the cops.

“It’ll work,” Dean assured him before typing into the huge chronograph on the dashboard.

**Oct 24 2014, 04:00am**

Sam quickly buckled his seatbelt as Dean gave him an encouraging nod and stepped on the gas pedal. The car took off like a race car and quickly gained speed across the parking lot. Sam could just see the police racing through the gate and into the lot as Dean pressed the NOS booster and the Impala pushed forward.

TJ Maxx’s huge front window was approaching at an alarming rate. Sam glanced nervously at the speedometer and panicked when he realised they had only just hit 65 miles per hour. “We’re not going to make it!” he proclaimed, looking desperately for somewhere to turn.

“All the extra equipment is slowing us down, but we’ll make it,” Dean said dismissively.

Dean was so calm it made him angry. “You’re going to get us killed you lunatic!”

Dean’s eyes were focused straight ahead. There’d be no stopping him now. Sam was sure they were about to crash through the storefront and get themselves in even more trouble with the cops. As the distance between the car and the window rapidly closed, he spared one last look over his shoulder, past a huge glowing Y-shaped contraption, and through the back window at the police. One car had stopped by Sam’s and some cops were getting out to investigate the black box on the ground. Another two cars had tried to follow them, but clearly thought better of driving full speed into the side of a building.

He turned back just in time to see them almost crash and then…nothing.

In an instant, everything around them had changed and they were driving through a field.

Dean let the car gradually roll to a stop and looked at Sam in utter amazement. “It worked!” he said breathlessly. “I actually did it!”

Sam sat in stunned silence as Dean got out and did a victory lap of the car, cheering like a maniac. He looked at the chronograph which said it was indeed 4am on October 24th, 2014. His heart sank however, when he saw the ‘Last time departed’ reading. “Dean!” he yelled, trying not to panic.

Dean came back to the car and ducked his head through the door. “Yeah?”

“I think your time machine’s clock might be a little off,” he said, pointing at the clock. It read

**Last time departed: Oct 24 2073, 01:35am**

“Oh,” Dean said, too calmly for Sam’s liking. “Thank God. That building would still have been there at 4am.”

“Take us back,” Sam said firmly, “and take us to a road. I’m not getting shredded by broken glass or materialising in a brick wall!”

“But Sammy, don’t you want to look around? We’re sixty freaking years in the past!”

Sam couldn’t help feeling a little curious, but he’d seen enough sci-fi movies to know messing around with history is a bad idea. “Won’t we create like, an alternate future or something?”

Dean considered it for a moment. “It’s possible, but I don’t think so. All my simulations seemed to suggest a closed timeline and not a multiverse.”

“Uh huh…” Sam said, not really convinced. “Look, can we just go back? Then we can come back here when we’re more prepared.”

“Okay, fine,” Dean sighed. “Let’s get it to a road.”

They kept driving straight ahead until they reached a hedge and followed it to the road. As Dean had a quick check under the hood, Sam set the clock for October 24th 2073.

“Oh shit,” Dean said from under the hood.

Sam felt like his heart might have skipped a beat. That was the most negative he’d heard Dean all night. “Something wrong?” he asked, hoping his brother was over reacting.

“You uh…you know how that trip was slightly longer than planned? Well, it used slightly more uranium than planned too.”

Sam took a breath to steady his nerves. “Are you saying we’re stuck here?”

“Until I find more uranium, yeah,” Dean said, before closing the hood and getting back in the car. “It won’t take that long. This is, what? 1955? America has tons of uranium!”

“In secure facilities Dean! They’re not just going to hand it over when you walk up and tell them you need it for your time machine!”

“They might,” Dean said petulantly.

Sam let out a breath. “Look, why don’t we try and find somewhere to hide out?”

“We don’t have any money. Not that we can use here anyway,” Dean pointed out.

Sam took the change out of his wallet to check the dates on the coins. “Okay well, I have $3.25. That won’t get us far.”

“Don’t worry, I just had an idea. Let’s find somewhere to stay. At least half the motels in town have been around for 60 years.”


	2. Chapter 2

Dean’s “idea”, as it turned out, had been to rob the nearest gas station and check into a motel. As Dean had assumed, there were no security cameras or alarms anywhere and the day’s takings were in a safe out back. (Sam decided not to ask how he knew how to crack a safe.)

They checked into the Bluebird motel just after 6am. If the manager found their state of dress or bizarre looking car strange, he didn’t let it show (He did however, give Sam’s hair a long look). He was more pissed about having to check them in while wearing his pyjamas.

“You boys from out of town?” he asked conversationally.

“Not far,” Dean said with a grin at Sam. “Just had to stop for a little while for a few auto repairs.”

“You need any help, be sure to stop by Singers. Best auto shop in town.”

“Huh. How about that?” Sam said quietly.

“Thank you sir, I’ll be sure to do that,” Dean said amiably as the manager handed him the keys.

They were directed to room four, across the lot from the office. Dean unlocked the door and gave Sam a small shrug. “Might as well make yourself at home. We could be here a while.”

Sam pushed through the door and surveyed his home for the next few days. It was basic. About as basic as a motel could get. Even for 1955, the décor looked old-fashioned. There were two twin beds with metal frames against opposite walls, a chest of drawers and a table and chairs, all in one square room. “Um, Dean? Where’s the bathroom?”

Dean laughed and pointed out the open door. “Who do you think you are? President Eisenhower?”

Sam shot him an unamused glare and went looking for the toilet block.

By the time he got back to the room, Dean had already taken over all the floor space. What looked like the plans for the time machine were spread over the floral carpet, along with everything that had been in the car when they got there. He gave him an enthusiastic smile as Sam entered the room. “So I already have an idea about how to fix this.”

“Look man, I really gotta sleep before I can stand to hear any more of your made up words, okay buddy? I’ve been awake for…23 hours,” he said, looking at his watch and realising it was now 2 hours fast.

“Pfft, whiney bitch,” Dean muttered.

Sam chose to take that as approval and lay down on the bed on the left.

“Okay fine,” Dean conceded, “I guess I could do with a few hours every day or so.”

“Uh huh…” Sam dreaded to think when Dean had last slept. When he was close to finishing some crazy invention, he occasionally forgot to do thinks like eat and sleep.

-o-o-

The next thing Sam knew, it was the middle of the day and his stomach was growling with hunger. He looked over to where Dean had fallen asleep, only to find the bed empty. He was sitting at the small folding table, scribbling furiously. “Did you even sleep?” Sam asked, making him jump.

“Sure, but then I had an idea I wanted to write down,” he said. He looked like he’d drank three pots of coffee, so Sam chose to ignore that problem.

“I’m going to find something to eat, you coming?”

“Can’t. Just bring me something back okay?”

“Whatever. Can I borrow the car?”

Dean actually put down his pencil and gave Sam an exasperated look. “Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one college boy?”

“Uh…” Sam said, looking at the time machine blueprints by his feet.

“That car won’t exist for another 10 years! You can walk.”

“But we drove it here! It’s parked out in the open!”

“That reminds me, see if you can pick up a tarp to cover the car while you’re out,” Dean said, going back to his plans.

As Sam walked along the road into town, he made a mental note to by a bicycle or something to make the journey a little quicker and easier. The motel manager had pointed him in the direction of the nearest eatery, but it was still a mile and a half walk along a mostly empty road. By 2014, the town had expanded by miles in each direction, but for now there was nothing but the motel, a building site, the gas station they robbed and fields of various animals. It was a surreal experience, but it became even more surreal when he reached the town square.

Everything looked so familiar and yet so different. He had to stop for a moment to let it sink in. Buildings he had always known as derelict were now thriving businesses. The graffiti around the square was gone. There were no honking horns at the intersection in front of Town Hall. It was like an illustration from a book about America in the 1950s. His eyes were drawn to a diner on the corner of a street on the square. The sign above the window said ‘Ed’s Diner’ and according to the chalkboard outside, they sold the ‘best burgers in town’. He decided to test that claim and crossed the road, easily avoiding the few cars on the street and pushed open the door to the diner. A bell above the door alerted a blonde motherly-looking waitress to his presence.

“Be with you in a minute hun, just take a seat anywhere,” she said with a friendly smile, and went through a door to what was presumably the kitchen.

The diner was quiet, but there were several groups of people sitting around, plus a group of school kids on their lunch break standing by the counter. Sam took a seat in an empty booth by the window and picked up the menu. He couldn’t help smiling at the prices. 30 cents for a burger!

He was just starting to re-evaluate their budget when a waiter approached the table. “What can I get for you ma’am?”

Sam froze. That voice was as familiar as his own. He chanced a look at the man beside him and almost forgot how to breathe. “What…” he began, but couldn’t go on.

“Oh, sorry sir. You having a feud with the barber or something?” he said, only slightly apologetically.

“Gabriel,” Sam breathed.

The man gave him a surprised look and paused for a moment. “Sorry buddy, but I think you have the wrong guy. I’m Ed,” he said, pointing to his name tag. “As in, Ed’s Diner.”

“Oh,” Sam said, trying to regain his composure. “I’m sorry, you just reminded me of someone.”

“Really?” Ed said without inflection and paused. “You gonna order anything?”

“Oh yeah, uh, could I get a burger and fries and a Diet Coke?”

“What the hell’s a diet coke?” the man said, eying him suspiciously.

“Oh, uh, I mean a Coke,” he said quickly. He was really going to have to remember where he was.

“Sure,” ‘Ed’ said, folding his arms. “You new to Hill Valley?”

“Yes,” Sam said quickly, hoping that might explain away his weird behaviour. “My brother and I are just passing through.”

“Your brother…” Ed said, eying him appraisingly. “I’ll be right back with your burger… sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Sam,” he provided.

“Sam,” Ed nodded, and headed for the kitchen.

When Ed was gone, Sam put his palms over his face and took a few deep breaths. ‘Get a grip of yourself Winchester. This is just a dream. A very intense dream…’. He lifted his head when he heard someone say his name through the hatch to the kitchen.

“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know him,” a familiar male voice said.

“He called me Gabriel, and he can’t just a normal guy.” Ed said.

There was a pause before the second man said, “Let me talk to him.”

“Jimmy wait,” Ed said, but too late. Jimmy had already opened the door and was making his way to Sam’s table.

He looked up at the man standing beside him and his suspicions were confirmed. The man looked identical to Gabe’s older brother, Castiel. “Uh, hi,” Sam said awkwardly.

“You want salad on your burger?” Jimmy said simply.

“Oh. Yes please,” Sam said, caught off guard. “Are you Ed’s brother?”

Jimmy gave him the same suspicious look Ed had. “Yes, how did you know?”

“Family resemblance,” Sam shrugged.

“We were both adopted.”

“Oh…well, you look sort of alike.”

“No we don’t,” Jimmy said.

“Oh,” Sam said. He was really losing control of the conversation. Castiel could be pretty intense at times too, but Sam suspected Gabe had asked him to reign it in a bit around him.

“You’re from out of town?” Jimmy asked in what he probably thought was a casual tone.

“Yeah. Me and my brother are staying here for a few days while he fixes the car.”

“Where you from? Up _north_?” Jimmy said.

“South actually,” Sam said, constructing a story in his head. “Texas.”

Jimmy nodded. “Your food will be ready in a few minutes,” he said, and walked off without walking for a reply.

Sam weighted up his options. Stay in the diner and try not to look crazy while being stared at but what could only be his boyfriend’s grandfather, or get the hell out of there and raise their already heightened suspicions. He decided on the former, and even managed to make polite small talk with Ed when he brought over his order.

After travelling 60 years into the past, Sam had thought his day couldn’t get any weirder. He couldn’t help feeling relieved that their family only moved into town when he and Dean were kids.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam flung open the door to the motel to find Dean gathering up his blueprints and stuffing them into a leather satchel.

“Sam!” he greeted him. “Great news!”

“You fixed the car?” Sam asked hopefully.

“Are you kidding? You were away like, two hours,” Dean said, looking him up and down. “What did you, run here?”

“Bike,” Sam said, pointing to the abandoned bicycle outside the door. “You had something to tell me?” he prompted.

“Oh yeah,” Dean said, “I talked to a physics professor at the university and convinced him to help me with my ‘experiment’.”

Sam was surprised he would even accept help, but if it got them home faster, he was on board. “You told him you needed help with your time machine?”

Dean looked at him like he’d just suggested summoning an alien for help. “No Sam, he’s going to help me build a power source that can generate the 1.21 gigawatts I need to get us home.”

“Alright then…” Sam was so distracted by the sudden turn of events he almost forgot he had rushed back to tell Dean something. “Dean, can you stop doing that for a second, I have something to tell you.”

The tone of his voice must have got Dean’s attention, because he immediately put down the papers he was holding and stood up to look at him. “What is it Sam? What did you do?”

He decided to ignore that accusation. “I saw Gabe in town.”

Dean gave him a look, something close to sympathy. “We’ve been gone less than 24 hours. You really miss him that much already?”

Sam rolled his eyes. “No, I wasn’t hallucinating, I saw him. I talked to him. He said his name’s Ed and he owns a diner. Cas was there too!” he cringed at his own words. “Okay, I know how that sounds, but he was identical!”

For the first time in his life, Dean looked lost for words. After a moment’s silence he said, “It must have been his grandpa or something.”

“Trust me Dean, no one looks _that_ much like their relatives. He was identical.”

Dean gave a defeated shrug. “What do you want me to say man? Say it is them. How do you explain that?”

Sam shrugged back. “I don’t know. We travelled through time to be here. Couldn’t someone else have done it too?”

Dean thought about that for a second before shaking his head firmly. “No way, no one else could have come up with the flux capacitor but me.”

He ignored Dean’s random bout of arrogance in favour of ending the conversation. “All right, fine. You’re probably right.” He had already convinced himself it really was Cas and Gabe, he just didn’t know how…yet. “So, if we can’t drive the car, how are you going to get all this stuff to the college?”

“I said _you’re_ not allowed to drive the car. I’m taking it with me,” Dean grinned.

“What?” Sam said, incredulous. “You made me walk the whole way—“

“Relax,” Dean said, cutting him off, “the professor said I could keep some stuff at the university, so I’ll drive it there when it’s dark.”

-o-o-

Over the next few days, Dean buried himself in research. Apparently, he and Professor Green were dismantling the bio-generator that had made it to 1955 in the back of the car, and assembling the new and improved version. Sam’s job was to make sure Dean remembered to eat and go home at night. During the day, he brought him a constant supply of sandwiches and at night, coaxed him into one of the various restaurants in town. According to Dean, the progress was good, but every time Sam entered the lab, it looked even messier than before.

Dean had informed him he would let him know when his help was required, so he was free to hang around town and avoid stepping on any butterflies. He went to Ed’s every day for lunch. He couldn’t help himself. He really was starting to miss Gabe, and Ed really helped to distract him.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, he was sitting at the counter, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Egypt and Saudi Arabia had apparently signed a peace treaty which had made the front page.

“I thought your name was Sam,” a familiar voice came from behind.

“It is,” he said as Ed went behind the counter in front of him.

“Then why does it say Calvin Klein on your underwear?”

“Dude!” Sam said, pulling his jeans up quickly.

“You don’t see purple underwear very often,” Ed said with a smirk.

“My underwear is none of your business,” Sam said without conviction. “What are you doing looking at my butt anyway?”

“Don’t flatter yourself big guy. I was wondering how someone who can eat here every day can’t afford a belt…or clothes that fit,” Ed said, cleaning the counter absent mindedly.

Sam couldn’t help feeling a little self-conscious. He’d been wearing some variation of the same outfit for four days and was yet to change his boxers. “I know, you’re right. I guess I’m not very good at dressing myself! What would you suggest?” It wasn’t exactly an appropriate question to ask a random diner owner he barely knew, but he briefly forgot he wasn’t talking to Gabe.

“Well I’d start with a haircut,” Ed said without pausing for thought.

“You don’t like my hair?” Sam said with genuine surprise. Gabe always said he loved his hair.

Ed have him an appraising look. “Well, I guess _I_ like it, but it makes you look like a hobo.”

“The hair stays,” he said stubbornly, but I guess I could try slicking it back a bit.”

“Okay, then maybe you should get some pants that fit. And maybe you should tuck in your damn shirt.”

Sam couldn’t help grinning. Gabe was constantly trying to improve Sam’s appearance. “Okay, then I guess I’m going shopping.”

“Go to Millar’s across the street. Tell ‘em I sent you,” Ed said with a wink.

“Thanks, I will.” It was the most he and Ed had talked since they’d met, and a question had been burning in Sam’s mind since he first saw him. He figured now was as good a time as ever. “Hey Ed, are you married?”

Ed looked mildly surprised, but smiled when he said, “No, not married.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No,” he said, still smiling. “What about you? You got a special lady back home?”

Sam grinned. “Kind of.”

“Pretty?”

“Beautiful. Most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen,” Sam said dreamily, staring into Ed’s equally gorgeous eyes.

“Then you’re a lucky man Sam. If she makes you this goofy, you hold on to that girl.”

“I will,” he said, thinking the next time he saw Gabe he was going to hug him and never let him go.

Mr Millar, it turned out, was a man of around 50 and he was utterly horrified when someone of Sam’s stature suggested buying pants off the rack. He insisted on measuring him properly and tailoring pants specially for him. He told Sam he would need three pairs, one of each colour (whatever that meant) and since he was a friend of Ed, they’d be ready by the end of the day for the bargain price of $8 per pair. He stepped out of the shop before Mr Millar managed to convince him he needed a shark-skin suit.

While he was waiting, he decided  to pick up some more clean clothes for Dean and himself. Hill Valley had one small department store, but it was big enough for him to find everything they needed. He considered going back to Ed’s while he waited but didn’t want to seem crazy, so instead he entertained himself looking at old electronics. $120 for a 21 inch TV sounded reasonable until he remembered it was 1955.

-o-o-

Sam stood awkwardly in front of the chest of drawers in their motel room trying to see into the shaving mirror he’d propped up against a tub of Brylcreem. He hadn’t gelled his hair since his sixth grade class photo and even then, it was because his dad made him. He took a little of the pomade on his fingers and spread it over his hands…then reached for his hair and thought of Elvis.

By the time he was finished, his hair actually looked surprisingly tidy and shorter than it had before.

He heard a car door slam shut and looked out the window to see Dean getting out of the passenger side of a powder blue convertible and waving goodbye to the driver, a young blonde man with round glasses and an argyle cardigan. Dean entered the room moments later and halted when he saw Sam.

“Woah, what the hell happened to you?” he said, half laughing.

Sam rolled his eyes. “I got some new clothes, since I wasn’t exactly prepared for this impromptu vacation. May as well try to fit in.”

“What’s with your hair?” he asked, just laughing now.

“Ed suggested I get a haircut, but that ain’t happening so this is the next best thing. People were staring! He said I looked like a hobo!”

Dean snorted. “Whatever man.”

“I got you some new clothes too, they’re on your bed.” He’d just got Dean a new pair of jeans and a selection of plain t-shirts. It would be enough to keep him going for a while. “You make any progress today?” he asked as Dean picked through the clothes on his bed.

“Sure did!” Dean said happily. “We worked out a way to upscale the bio-gen to produce enough power.”

He perked up at that news. “Well great!”

“Yeah,” Dean agreed, “only problem is, it’ll be the size of a house and it’ll get left behind after we leave so I need to figure out a way to disable it after.” He pulled off the shirt he’d been wearing for three days and tried on a clean one. He made a small satisfied noise, which was enough approval for Sam.

“Okay, that sounds like a big problem,” Sam pointed out.

“It’ll be fine. You ever hear of a house-sized generator in Hill Valley?” Dean said with confidence.

“No,” Sam said hesitantly.

“Then we must be able to do it,” Dean said. “Or we just end up stuck here…” he added quietly.

“Great,” Sam groaned before remembering the powder blue car Dean had got out of . “How’d you get home?”

“Oh!” Dean said, gesturing through the window. That was Professor Green. He gave me a ride.”

“In a convertible? In October?”

“I think he was just showing off.”

“He’s younger than I expected.” Sam had been expecting a crazy old man with wild white hair, not a young attractive guy.

“Hey, can I borrow your bike? I have to go back to the university and make some changes to the car while no one’s around.” Dean asked as he started to change into his new jeans.

“Actually, if you haven’t eaten yet, I thought we could go downtown. I really want to introduce you to Ed and Jimmy.” He was determined to convince Dean that Ed and Jimmy were really Gabe and Castiel. “Then I can go to the college with you and lend a hand.”

Dean looked suspicious but agreed anyway, and they were soon making their way along the road into town.

When they entered the diner, Julie (as Sam had read on her nametag) pointed them to a booth against the wall and said she’d be right with them.

“You didn’t tell me this place had the best burgers in town Sammy,” Dean said, pointing to the menu.

Sam snorted. “Wait till you try the fries.” He glanced around the restaurant. There was no sign of Ed and he was starting to worry he wasn’t working the dinner shift. “Is Ed working tonight?” he asked as casually as he could when Julie came to take their order.

“He sure is hun, he’s helping his brother in the kitchen right now,” she said with an amused smile. “What can I get you boys?”

“Fried chicken for me and a Coke,” Sam said, handing back the menu.

Dean flashed a smile as he gave Julie his menu. “I think I ought to try the best burger in town. And a vanilla milkshake.”

“Coming right up,” she said, before passing their order through the hatch to the kitchen.

“Hey look!” Dean said, making Sam jump. “A jukebox!”

Sam looked where he was pointing. There was indeed a jukebox nestled in the wall, but it barely differed from the vintage kind to be found in every cheesy diner in 2014. “So?”

Dean raised his eyebrows. “Are you kidding? This isn’t vintage or retro, it’s new! I gotta try it out.” He practically skipped across the room as he rooted around in his pocket for change. He stared at the list of songs for a minute before deciding on ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’.

“Are you serious?” Sam asked when he sat back down.

“Dude, do you realise this recording is only a few months old? This is so cool!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw Ed emerge from the kitchen. He stared straight ahead at Dean, trying really hard to pretend he hadn’t noticed. He feigned surprise when Ed appeared beside the table.

“Hiya Sam. I hear you were asking about me,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Julie said you just walked in with James Dean, back from the dead.”

Sam smiled at Dean, who was very poorly hiding his surprise at seeing someone who looked and sounded so much like Gabriel. “Well, she’s part right I guess. This is my brother Dean. Dean,” he said, purposefully kicking him under the table and pulling him from his stupor, “this is Ed.”

“Oh, uh, nice to meet you Ed,” Dean said, extending his hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare, you just remind me of someone.”

Ed looked unamused, but shook Dean’s hand anyway. Yeah, I’ve been getting that a lot lately.” He shot a quick glance towards the hatch before adding, “So Sam tells me you’re just staying in town while you fix your car. That it? Just two regular guys passing through town?”

Sam and Dean shared a confused look. “Uh, yeah I guess,” Dean answered. “You don’t get many visitors round here, huh?”

“A few,” Ed said with a shrug. He turned to Sam. “I see you took my advice. Looking sharp big guy! I hope you gave Calvin back his underwear.”

Sam smiled at the familiar feeling of approval. “Thanks buddy, what do you think of my hair? I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

“It looks fine, but here.” Ed, without any preamble, reached his hands into Sam’s hair and started adjusting it. “You just need to pull it all back a bit more and…there,” he said, stepping back to admire his work.

Sam sat still and felt the blood rushing to his face. He tried really hard to stay calm and looked to Dean for help.

“Much better,” Dean grinned. “I’m honestly amazed he manages to dress himself.”

Ed grinned back. “Better get back to work. Nice to meet you Dean.”

“Oh my _God_ ,” Dean hissed as soon as Gabe was out of earshot. “You were right! They could be the same person!”

“Right?” Sam replied, slightly offended Dean didn’t think he could deduce that himself. “Still think it’s his grandpa?”

He seemed to think about it for a minute. “It’s the only reasonable explanation I can think of,” he said, looking unconvinced, “but lately I’ve been re-evaluating what ‘reasonable’ means. And Cas is here too?”

Sam nodded. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think they’d found the secret to immortality.”

“Oh my God…” he said again, looking behind Sam.

Sam knew immediately what he had seen. Jimmy was coming for his inspection.

“Hello,” Jimmy said, standing beside the table. “You must be Sam’s brother.”

“Uh,” Dean said, before remembering how to talk, “Yeah, Dean. Sorry, you just look really like a friend of mine.” he offered his hand and Jimmy shook it.

“Really? What’s his name?” Jimmy said, sounding almost casual.

“Castiel,” Dean replied cautiously. “Why?”

Jimmy dropped Dean’s hand suddenly and put his hands stiffly by his sides. “Just curious if it was a relative or something. He’s not,” he clarified, looking them over. “Anyway, I just wanted to say hello. I should…” he pointed vaguely towards the kitchen and wandered off.

“Freaky huh?” Sam said. Dean and Cas had become close friends ever since Sam and Gabe had started dating. He knew seeing Jimmy would spook him a lot more than seeing Ed.

“You can say that again,” he muttered. “This is like the freakin’ Wizard of Oz!”

-o-o-

After Dean finished what he agreed probably was the best burger in town, they walked the few blocks to the college. Dean let them in a side entrance and led them through the dark corridors to a glorified parking garage that was now home to the Impala/Time Machine.

“So, what do you need to do?” Sam asked, pointing to the car.

“Not much,” Dean said with a shrug. “I need to get the nuclear generator out of there and replace it with some kind of socket for the bio-gen. Something big enough to handle a lot of energy.”

“Uh, easy?” Sam said hopefully.

“Sure,” Dean said, sounding very unconvincing. “Why don’t you get the old power source out and I’ll find something to replace it with.”

“Okay then…” He popped the hood and started rooting around, trying to find something that didn’t look like it belonged there. He could hear Dean fiddling with something in the front seat, and moments later ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ was blaring from the car’s speakers. Dean emerged looking very pleased with himself.

“What, you like Elvis now?” Sam laughed.

“I can’t exactly listen to music that won’t exist for 20 or 30 years can I?” Dean said as he began rifling through a pile of scrap metal on the floor.

“Why do you even have that tape?” Sam said unscrewing something that looked like the base of a coffee machine.

He shrugged. “Cas must’ve left it there. That nerd loves Elvis.”

“Is this what needs to go?” Sam asked, holding up the piece he’d just removed.

Dean looked up at what he was holding. “Oh no. Put that back. The thing you’re looking for is about the size of a teacup and silver.”

Sam rolled his eyes. That described almost every part in the car, but eventually he found what he was looking for.

“So…not-Gabe was pretty hands-on huh?” Dean said after a five minute silence.

The comment took Sam so much be surprise, his hand slipped and he cut himself on the wrench he was using. “I guess,” he said hesitantly.

“Guy couldn’t wait to get his hands on you…and he saw your underwear?” Dean said with a grin.

Sam felt his cheeks reddening. “My pants were riding a little low when I was sitting in the diner. That’s all.”

“Hmm,” Dean narrowed his eyes. “So he was just casually looking at your ass? Okay.”

“Cut it out Dean.”

“Is it still cheating when they’re identical?” Dean mused with a laugh.

“Seriously Dean, stop it! Can you find me a bandage or something for my hand?”

Dean snorted. “You think they’re going to have a first aid kit lying around? It’s a miracle they even have fire extinguishers.” Dean managed to find him a clean rag and some masking tape to do until he found a real bandage.

“So, back to Ed…”

Sam groaned. He thought they’d moved on from this. “What about him?”

“You don’t think he’s gay do you?” Dean said bluntly. “He does seem to be showing an awful lot of interest in you.”

“He was just being friendly,” Sam said dismissively. “And if we’re sticking with the grandfather theory then he would most likely have been married at some point.”

Dean nodded. “You ever find out his last name?”

“Coleman, but he could have had a daughter who married a Milton.”

Dean nodded, looking unconvinced. “I guess.”

Sam had been away from Gabriel for less than a week, but he was already missing him terribly. He wasn’t sure if he really did believe Ed was Gabe or if he was just willing it to be true so he’d feel less guilty about the attraction he felt for him.


	4. Chapter 4

Sam was rudely awoken on the fifth day by someone knocking the door so hard he thought they might break through. He checked his watch, which read 9.15am. When he opened the door, it was the motel manager.

“You got a phone call, you can pick it up in the office,” he said, before turning to walk away.

“Wait what? Who is it?” Sam said.

“Your brother,” he said, shouting over his shoulder.

“Crap, what now?” Sam mumbled as he slipped his shoes on before heading to the office. “Hello?” he said into the phone.

“Sam! I have great news!” Dean practically shouted, “We’re ready to test the bio-gen!”

“Oh my God, that’s amazing!”

“Can you come to the college? We might need your help.”

“Sure,” he said, “Should I bring our stuff and settle up with the motel?”

Dean thought about it for a second. “Nah, we can check it’s working and do that afterwards. Just get down here!”

He hung up and looked up at the manager who’d been listening. “Hey, could you call me a cab?”

The manager looked up expressionless. “I could, but there ain’t no taxi companies in town. Your bike would probably be faster.”

“Oh, okay thanks,” he said before rushing off to get dressed.

He made it to the university in record time and locked his bike up outside the physics department. He was about to go through the door he and Dean had used the previous night, when he saw Dean and Professor Green in the middle of the parking lot with an extremely large piece of equipment. It wasn’t quite the size of a house, but it was at least 10 feet tall and was covered in coils of metal wire, multi-coloured cables and warning signs. Many college kids were walking past, looking it over, but none were paying it much attention. Maybe that kind of thing was normal around here. He walked over and gave a little wave when Dean spotted him.

“So this is it?” he asked, pointing at the machine. “Woah, what the hell is that smell?”

Dean grinned and pointed behind him at a huge pile of rotting vegetables. “Fuel! The cafeteria has been saving this stuff for me all week.” He held up a pair of gloves and handed them to Sam. “I’m going to need you to load it.”

Sam sighed heavily. He should’ve known. He put on the gloves walked over to the pile of garbage. Professor Green gave him an encouraging smile, and he started shovelling the ‘fuel’ into a large metal chute on the side.

They were soon ready to begin testing. He jumped when Dean crept up behind him and started whispering in his ear. “We really don’t have many shots at this,” he said gravely. “The circuits won’t be able to handle the large burst of power we need more than a couple of times. If this doesn’t work, it’s back to the drawing board.”

“Oh great,” Sam replied. He didn’t mind 1955 all that much, but it wouldn’t be long before they ran out of money and had to do something regrettable. By now, he just wanted to get home and watch a movie with Gabe and eat pizza.

The three of them stood in a line, a safe distance from the generator. Professor Green was holding several multimeters, all hooked up to the machine.

“Everyone ready?” the professor asked, looking eager.

“As we’ll ever be,” Dean answered, failing to hide his enthusiasm.

Sam gave him a nod and Professor Green flipped the first switch. Immediately the machine began humming. A few components on the outside started moving, but it was obvious most of the work was taking place inside. They stood in silence as the noise rose in pitch and volume.

Dean was almost bouncing with excitement as he watched the needles rise. “Okay, almost ready for the energy burst….now!”

On his order, Professor Green pulled the second switch and everything went silent.

“Is it meant to do that?” Sam whispered to Dean.

“I dunno,” Dean said, his enthusiasm wavering. He glanced down at the multimeters in Professor Green’s hands, waiting for the surge.

When it came, every needle flew across its display, and were accompanied by what was very clearly an explosion coming from inside the machine.

“Uh oh,” Dean said, and looked to Professor Green, eyes wide.

“What do we do?” the other man asked, sounding panicked.

“Turn it off!” Dean shouted, just as another explosion came from the machine, “And run!”

He ran off in the direction of some kids who had got a little too close shouting ‘”Run!” Sam and the professor ran back towards the physics building, just in time to see the whole thing blow up.

Sam just stood there staring as their best chance of getting home evaporated in front of him. He thought back to Dean’s joke about them getting stuck there and a large weight seemed to settle in his stomach.

“I better go call the fire department,” Professor Green muttered and rushed off to find a phone.

As the dust and debris settled, Sam could see his brother on the other side of the wreckage looking utterly dismayed. He rushed over to try and comfort him, but he doubted he could be much help.

“It didn’t work,” Dean said simply.

“I see that,” he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Did it at least produce enough power before…that happened?”

Dean shrugged. “I’d have to do some calculations to be sure, but I can already tell it wasn’t even close. Guess it’s back to the drawing board then.”

Sam blew out a breath. He was feeling extremely downtrodden, but he didn’t want Dean to think he’d let him down, so he put on a brave face. “If anyone can work this out, you can.”

Dean nodded slowly. “You know what? You’re right. I can totally figure this out. I already have another idea involving lightning rods!”

-o-o-

Dean coped the way he always did. By throwing himself back into his work. When Sam was feeling hopeless he usually relied on his friends to help him out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t currently an option, so after helping clear away the mess, and going to pick up sandwiches for himself and Dean, he was just in time for the bar in the town square opening. He didn’t usually go to bars and drink alone, but these were extreme circumstances.

“You new in town?” the bartender asked Sam who was sitting at the bar, nursing his second beer.

“Does everyone in this town know everyone else?” he said in reply, sounding more miserable than he meant to.

The guy behind the bar laughed. “Not really, I just know my regulars and I don’t get all that many first time customers.”

Sam smiled, trying to make up for his grumpiness. “That must be nice. My brother and I are just passing through. Having a bit of car trouble.”

“If you’re in need of auto-repairs, you should stop by Singer’s. Ain’t a problem he can’t fix.”

He half-smiled. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

He’d gotten so comfortable sitting at the bar and listening to the music from the jukebox, he didn’t notice how fast the time was passing. Before he knew it, he was on his fourth beer and the bar was beginning to fill up with people finishing work.

“Hey, is this seat taken?” Sam looked up to find Ed standing beside him.

“Be my guest,” Sam said, pulling out the barstool for him. “What are you doing here?”

Ed shrugged. “I have a day off and I thought you could use some company.”

Sam smiled genuinely. “Thanks! How did you know I was here?”

Ed gave him a very familiar, devilish grin. “I have my ways. So why the pity party?”

“There’s been a serious setback with the car. Looks like we’re stuck here for another while,” Sam said, feeling slightly guilty for his use of the phrase ‘stuck here’.

“That’s too bad,” Ed said, giving Sam a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “At least I won’t be losing my best customer right away.”

“That’s true,” Sam laughed. “Hey, can I get you a drink?”

“Sure, vodka and orange would be great,” he replied, slipping his hand into his jacket pocket.

“No problem,” Sam said, slightly bemused. Screwdriver was Gabe’s drink as well. He called the bartender over and order himself another beer.

“How many have you had?” Ed asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

“Four, but don’t worry. This stuff is like soda for me. Being so tall, I need about 20 before I’m drunk.”

Ed laughed, “I’m a pretty cheap date, as you can probably guess.” If he was the same height as Gabe, (and Sam would bet he was) he was about 5 foot 8. Their height difference had been the subject of many jokes when they started dating, but they adjusted quickly.

When Sam realised what Ed had pulled out of his pocket he almost choked on the dregs of his beer. “You smoke?” he said, as casually as he could muster.

“Sure…” Ed said, gesturing around the bar at all the other smoking patrons Sam _hadn’t_ confronted. He lit up a cigarette and put it in his mouth, savouring the first puff. Sam tried very hard not to find it attractive.

“Sorry,” Sam said, trying to regain his composure, “it’s just, my friend, the one you remind me of, is extremely anti-smoking. It’s weird seeing you do it.”

“He’s anti-smoking? Why?” Ed asked, taking another drag.

“You might get cancer,” Sam said seriously.

Ed gave a small laugh. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it Sam, I won’t get cancer.”

“Hmm,” he replied, non-committedly.

While they were waiting for the barman to return with their drinks, Sam took out his wallet and placed a $5 bill on the bar.

“What the hell is that?” Ed asked, pointing at the money.

Sam immediately realised he’d mixed a modern five in with his 50s money. He went to grab the bill, but Ed got there first. “It’s nothing. Just from out of state.”

Ed gave him a look that said ‘bullshit’. “Why’s it purple?”

“I dunno,” Sam said, grabbing it out of Ed’s hand. “Why is it usually green?” He put it back in his wallet and replaced it with a spendable $5 bill.

“What, what is _that_?” Ed said, pointing at the driving license in Sam’s open wallet.

Sam was starting to get flustered, and in the process of putting his wallet back in his pocket, dropped it on the floor. “Look, I gotta go,” he said, gathering up the change he’d dropped under the stool. Ed hopped down to help him pick up the coins. “Sorry Ed, I better go help my brother with the car, okay?”

“Wait, don’t you want your change?” Ed asked, looking completely dumbfounded.

“Leave it as a tip,” Sam called back, already halfway out the door. And before anyone could stop him, he hopped on his bike and started pedalling towards the motel as fast as he could go.


	5. Chapter 5

He didn’t know what was worse, Ed thinking he was out of his mind, or the thought of telling him he was from the future and proving him right. He knew how Gabe would react to something like this. He’d pat him on the arm, say ‘That’s nice dear’, and play along as he waited for the narcotics to wear off. Ed was different though. This guy was more likely to ban him from the diner, or worse, call the police.

As Sam rounded the corner to the diner, his breath caught in his throat. He saw a group of 16 year old girls go in the door and hoped Ed wouldn’t be too busy to talk to him. He walked the last few yards to the diner and paused to look in the window. Ed was standing by the girls’ table with a notebook, taking their order…but the girls were giggling and poking each other. Few were immune to Gabe’s charms, and the more of this man Sam saw, the more he was convinced this really was his Gabe. He plucked up his courage as best he could, and pushed open the door to the diner.

The jingle of the doorbell alerted Ed to his presence. He looked up and when he saw Sam, his smile almost faltered. Sam walked straight up to the counter, catching him before he took the girls’ order to the kitchen.

“Hey, Ed?” He would never get used to calling him that. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Ed looked him over and almost looked sorry. “Now’s not really a good time buddy. Can it wait until after the lunch rush?”

This was exactly the answer Sam had expected. He’d planned it so he’d have a little time to watch Ed work and plan out what he was about to say. “That’s fine. I’ll be in that booth over there.”

“Gotta order something if you want to stay big guy,” Ed said with a grin.

“Oh, of course. I’ll take an order of fries and a Coke.”

“Coming right up,” Ed said, slipping into the kitchen.

Sam spent the next 45 minutes watching Ed, Jimmy and Julie work. It was weird seeing someone who looked so much like Gabriel in this kind of job. As long as he’d known him, he’d been a programmer, spending hours at a time typing, staring or yelling at his computer and almost always by himself. Even Sam didn’t dare interrupt him when he was on a roll. Gabe was an artist with a computer, according to Gabe, and genius couldn’t be rushed. Ed was showing a whole other kind of genius. He was able to keep track of a dozen orders at once, he seemed to remember who arrived first without having to write down a thing. He managed to make time for every single customer, even those he hadn’t seated himself, and everyone left happy and satisfied.

A few times, Ed had looked over and caught Sam staring at him fondly. The first time he’d just ignored him, the second he gave him a questioning look. Sam just smiled and shook his head, going back to gazing into his Coke. After that, Ed just went back to pretending not to notice.

Eventually, the diner emptied and Sam heard Ed tell Julie the waitress. “I’m gonna take a quick break, I won’t be far away if you need my help.” Moments later, he appeared, leaning over the back of the seat opposite Sam. Sam looked up and smiled.

“So, what can I do for you sir?” he said curiously.

“Will you join me?” Sam asked, pointing at the chair on which Ed was leaning.

He narrowed his eyes slightly but sat down nonetheless. “If I had a nickel for every guy who came in here dressed like a farm labourer, claiming to recognise my brother and me, calling us by different names, you know how much I’d have?”

“Um…”

“A nickel!”

Sam sat dumbfounded. He’d heard Gabe make that same joke hundreds of times and hearing it from Ed just confused him all the more. Sure, it was possible for a joke to get passed down from father to son, but something about the way he said it had managed to shock him into silence.

“So…did you want me to start?” Ed said eventually.

“Oh uh, no. Sorry. You just uh…”

“Reminded you of someone,” Ed finished for him. “Look, kid—“

“Kid?” Sam laughed. The term sounded ridiculous coming out of Ed’s mouth. “You’re only two years older than me.”

“Are you kidding, you’ve gotta be what, 19? 20 years old?”

“21,” Sam said, indignant.

“Buddy, I’m almost 10 years older than you.”

“Really?” Sam said, utterly confused. He knew Gabriel’s face better than his own. He knew every blemish, shadow and wrinkle and Ed didn’t differ, even by the smallest detail. He didn’t look a _day_ older, never mind 7 years.

Ed regarded him strangely, almost nervously. “Were you going somewhere with this?”

“Yes, eugh.” Sam shook himself mentally and physically. He was always so easily distracted when it came to Gabriel. “Look, there’s something I want to tell you. Something that’ll explain why I seem so…”

“Crazy?” Ed finished for him. “Good luck.”

“Yeah, crazy. I know I shouldn’t. My brother would kill me if he found out, but I already feel like I can trust you.”

Gabe nodded slowly. “I’m not sure I like where this is going.”

“Okay, here goes,” he said, and took a deep breath. “I’m from the future. From the year 2014.”

Ed’s expression didn’t change, all he said was “How?”

“My brother and I came here in a time machine.” He didn’t take his eyes off Ed, trying to figure out what the other man was thinking.

A look crossed Ed’s face, more akin to realisation than disbelief. His mouth hung open for a moment and his eyes widened slightly before he said simply, “Oh.”

“I know it sounds crazy,” Sam admitted.

“Oh,” Ed said again. “And you know….” He looked up at Sam and glanced nervously around the diner like he’d suddenly became aware of his surroundings. “You know you sound insane?” he said.

Sam nodded. “Oh, trust me, it sounded just as insane to me a week ago.”

Ed scrubbed his hand over the bottom half of his face. He looked over at Sam and regarded him curiously. They sat in silence for a minute while Sam allowed him to digest the information. He didn’t really know what he was expecting. He knew how he’d feel if someone dropped information like that on him, and none of it amounted to belief.

“I gotta say,” Ed began, staring at the table and considering his words carefully. “That is certainly not the explanation I was expecting. You sound completely insane, and I don’t know what’s worse. You…or me for believing you.”

Sam almost jumped out of his chair. “You do?”

Ed’s serious expression didn’t change. “Put it this way, I’m _choosing_ to believe you, okay?”

Sam wanted to kiss him, probably more than he ever had before, but somehow he didn’t think Ed would appreciate a guy kissing him in the middle of his workplace. The scepticism on his face seemed forced to Sam. He found it strange that Ed was so quick to believe him. Gabriel wasn’t exactly gullible and usually required solid evidence before he believed any of Sam’s crazy stories. He glanced at Ed who was considering him strangely, not that he could blame him.

“I have something to show you,” Sam said, making a snap decision. He pulled his iPhone out of his pocket, switched it on, and placed it on the table. He wasn’t even sure why he kept carrying it around. It’s not like anyone would steal it and it was completely useless in 1955. Ed looked at it, confused. “I took this video the night we left.” He found the video Dean had asked him to record and pushed it across the table to Ed.

“What the hell is this? A television?” Ed said, staring in wonder at the screen in front of him.

“Actually, it’s a phone, but there’s a camera in there too.”

“A phone…” Ed muttered, his eyes widening in wonder at the display on the screen. “That’s a heck of a car.” When the video ended he picked up the phone and turned it over, handing it back to Sam with a shrug. “Sixty years in the future,” he said, without an inflection. His eyes went momentarily to the kitchen where Jimmy was still working. "I’m going to take a stab in the dark and guess you know someone in the future who looks a whole lot like me.”

“Yeah,” Sam admitted hesitantly.

“And that’s why you called me Gabriel when we first met,” Ed said, looking almost relieved.

“I guess they must be your grandkids or something,” he shrugged.

“They? Jimmy as well?”

“Yeah, his name’s Castiel.”

“Strange,” Ed said slowly.

Sam nodded. “My brother and I thought so too. Apparently Castiel and Gabriel are both names of angels. Guess their parents were super religious or something.”

Ed gave a nervous laugh. It was so strange to Sam that this guy could be so much like Gabe in some ways…

“So,” Ed said, regaining a little of his composure. “Your brother built a time machine? In 2014?”

“Yeah,” He laughed. He could hardly believe it himself. “Except it’s…not functional right now. He’s working on fixing it, but it’s all way over my head.”

“That’s so…soon!” Ed said, shaking his head.

“Soon?” Didn’t you guys all think we’d be driving rocket cars and colonising the moon by then?”

Ed gave him a look. “Not exactly,” he said, “I have a more realistic grasp of how quickly the human race can progress.”

Sam grinned, hearing Gabe in the man’s reply. “Fair enough.”

Ed checked the large clock on the wall above the kitchen. “Okay kiddo, I need to get back to work. There’s something I want to tell you too.”

Sam grinned to himself. He had a feeling he was going to be hearing Ed’s coming out speech and was kind of looking forward to it.

“Can you meet me back here later? I get off around seven.”

“Sure,” he agreed, “I’d love to…I mean, I’ll be here,” he corrected, not wanting to sound too eager.

Sam left the diner feeling a little better. He’d hated the thought of Ed thinking he was crazy, but now he couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy at how quickly Ed had accepted his story.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam could sit and watch Ed at work all day, he really could. He was completely in his element, socialising with customers, taking orders, taking charge of the staff. But there was a strange shyness in this guy that he had never seen in Gabe. While he was often loud, joking and in control, there were times when the mask slipped and he seemed almost insecure. Sam almost had to stop himself from going over and putting a reassuring hand on the man’s shoulder.

Shortly before 7, another guy came to relieve him. He had met him once before but hadn’t spoken to him much. He smiled politely at Sam on his stool by the counter and continued through the door to the kitchen. He could see the guy pointing back at him with a questioning look on his face as he spoke to Jimmy. Perhaps Sam was spending more time at the diner than he should…

A few minutes later, Ed came and stood beside Sam’s stool. “You want to finish that milkshake or are you ready to go?” he asked. He was smiling, but sounded nervous.

Sam ignored Ed’s apprehension and downed the rest of his shake. “Both,” he grinned.

They exited the diner and Ed led them around the corner to where he’d parked his car. On a chilly evening like this, Sam and Gabriel always walked with an arm around each other. He managed to stop himself before he threw an arm around Ed’s shoulders, but not before his hand touched Ed’s arm.

“What are you doing?” he said, turning 360 degrees to see what had touched him.

Sam flushed. “Uh, nothing. I just thought you had something on your jacket.”

“Uh huh.” Ed narrowed his eyes but didn’t pursue the matter.

Sam climbed into the front seat of Ed’s car and instinctively reached over his shoulder, finding nothing.

“What now?” Ed asked, seeing his bewilderment.

“This car has no seatbelts!” he said, looking around. “Or mirrors for that matter!”

Ed looked at him, perplexed. “What are you talking about, there’s a mirror right here!” he said, indicating the rear-view mirror, “and what do you call this?”

Sam looked to where Ed was pointing. “ _Your_ seatbelt.” Sam said, realising how ridiculous he must sound. “Never mind. The cars in 2014 just have a few more safety features. Where are we going anyway?”

“Well, I haven’t eaten yet. You want to get some dinner?”

Sam perked up. ‘You want to get some dinner’ were the exact words Gabe had used when he first asked him out.

They’d been living in the same dorms for months, since Sam had started his first year, and they’d been running into each other in the halls almost every night. He had started to suspect it wasn’t as much of a coincidence as Gabe would have him believe. One evening he very conveniently ran into Gabe when he was trying to get as inconspicuously as possible from the showers to his room wearing nothing but a towel.

“Hey sasquatch. What ya doin’?” Gabriel greeted him.

Sam did his best to look annoyed, but he didn’t mind the intrusion all that much. He gestured to his towel and the toiletry bag in his hand. “Take a guess,” he said dryly

“You want to get some dinner?” Gabe said next.

“I uh…” He wasn’t sure what to say. He and Gabriel had barely spoken for more than a few minutes at a time. There’d barely been a suggestion they might hang out together. “Now?” he asked stupidly.

“Well I’m assuming you’d want to put some clothes on first but don’t let me pressure you.”

“I not…you don’t even know that I’m…like guys.” Sam decided to stop talking before he could say anything more ridiculous.

Gave was staring at him, mouth slightly ajar. “Uh huh…when I said dinner, what exactly did you hear?”

He went to reply, but Gabriel (thankfully) put a hand up to stop him. “Look big guy, I just felt like we had a bit of a connection and I have a sneaking suspicion you feel it too. Am I wrong?”

Sam was silent for a moment. It was unusual for him, but he had to admit he did feel extremely attracted to Gabriel. In fact, he couldn’t remember ever feeling so drawn to another man, but Gabe was a charismatic guy. “Nuh,” was all he could say.

“Good, then go and get dressed and I’ll meet you downstairs in say, 15 minutes?”

Sam nodded dumbly and stumbled back to his room. It was the first time he’d ever been asked out and it had taken him so much by surprise, he hadn’t even had time to get nervous. Somehow he doubted Ed had the same kind of dinner in mind.

“Okay, where do you want to want to go?” he asked Ed.

“Nothing fancy. Maybe White Castle?”

He couldn’t help laughing. Gabe hated White Castle. He always said their burgers weren’t burgers and blamed them for production lines in kitchens. “Sounds good to me,” he shrugged.

Before long, they were sitting at a table in White Castle and Ed was staring blankly at his fries, biting his bottom lip. It was the quietest Sam had seen him in the week since they’d met. “Something wrong man?” he asked casually.

He looked up like he’d forgotten Sam was there. “Uh…no,” he said and bit his lip again briefly before adding. “I have something to tell you and it’s pretty weird.”

Sam laughed, despite Ed’s serious face. “Dude, this afternoon I told you I was a time traveller from the future, how much weirder could it be?”

Ed gave him a curious smile. “That’s true,” he said with a nod, “and I believed you. I believed you because of the thing I’m about to tell you. If one could be possible, then so could the other. Remember that. Okay?”

Sam was really interested now. “Sure, whatever you say.”

“And I don’t want you to think of it in terms of science verses faith, okay? Plenty of people would consider time travel just as magical as what I’m about to tell you.”

Sam shifted in his seat and leaned forward. “God Ed, what is it?”

Ed glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching or listening before turning back to Sam. “I’m an angel.”

His first reaction was to laugh, but when he saw the serious expression on Ed’s face he immediately shut up. “Oh, uh…sorry. My friend Gabriel, the one you remind me of, calls himself an angel all the time.”

“Really?” Ed said, almost laughing himself.

“Yeah, but uh, when you say angel you mean…”

“Halo, fluffly wings, harp, whole nine yards.”

It had to be a joke. He’d told him about Gabriel and Castiel and he clearly thought it would be funny to mess with him. His expression hadn’t changed though and he was still staring at Sam waiting for a response. He cleared his throat and said calmly. “This is a joke right? You’re trying to mess with me?”

Ed rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and sighed. “No, it’s not a joke, I’m serious. You want me to prove it to you?”

“Uh, yeah, that would be nice.”

Ed pointed to the bandage on Sam’s hand. “What happened to your hand? Let me see…”

“I cut it while I was helping my brother. I’m not so good with my hands apparently,” he said offering it to Ed.

“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,” Ed grinned before unwrapping the bandage. He inspected the wound briefly before he placed his fingertips to it and a bright light appeared. Sam tried to pull his hand back but was unable to dislodge it from Ed’s grip.

After a few seconds, the bright light disappeared and Ed released Sam’s hand. He stared at his palm in utter disbelief. The cut was completely gone with no sign that it had ever happened. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

“How’s that?” Ed said with a grin.

“What happened?” Sam said, holding up his hand.

“I told you. Angel.”

Sam’s brain was refusing to accept what he’d just seen. He knew it wasn’t possible, but like Ed said, a week ago he _knew_ time travel wasn’t possible. Was the existence of angels that much of a stretch? He blew out a breath and fixed his eyes on Ed. He certainly couldn’t think of another explanation.

“Okay,” he said finally, “so you’re an angel. From…heaven?”

Ed nodded.

“And you’re living on earth because…”

“I like it here,” Ed shrugged. “Humans are fun.”

“Okay, sure, of course. And your brother?”

“Angel.”

“God?”

“Dad?”

“Dad,” Sam repeated, feeling a little hysterical. His brain was gradually beginning to process the ridiculous amount of information he was receiving. God is real. Angels are real. The guy sitting in front of him is one and just performed a miracle in front of him. “Okay then,” he breathed. “Are uh…angels capable of time travel?” he asked, thinking of Gabe.

“Me? No.” He regarded Sam for a moment before going on. “The first time we met, you called me Gabriel. I almost dropped my guard.”

“You’re immortal,” Sam said slowly, “You’re really him.”

The other man nodded.

“Archangel Gabriel at your service,” he said with a small smile.

Sam stared, open mouthed. His boyfriend was an angel. His boyfriend was _the_ angel. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

Ed, no, not Ed. Gabe shrugged, “I can’t say Sammy, I don’t know how well we know each other in the future but I can tell you one thing. If I told you my real name, you must be something real special kid.”

Sam couldn’t hold back his smile. He considered just telling Gabriel about their relationship but he knew how it would sound. You can’t just go back in time and tell a guy he’s going to end up in a relationship that would currently get him arrested. An irritating thought occurred to him. “That bastard remembers this doesn’t he?”

“Easy kiddo. ‘Hi, I remember you. We met 60 years ago’ isn’t exactly something you just spring on a man you just met.”

“I guess,” he replied unconvinced. That sounded exactly like something Gabriel would say. “So why are you telling me now?”

“I’m not sure. I guess because you already know me. And come on, no one looks _this_ much like their grandchildren. You didn’t really think he and I are relatives did you?”

Sam shrugged. “What was I supposed to think? I told Dean I met Gabe and Cas, and he told me I was an idiot. And that’s coming from a guy who built a time machine.”

“It must have been very weird for you guys.” Gabe admitted.

“Hey, can I tell Dean?” he asked, realising he would probably be glad of the explanation too.

“I’d really prefer you didn’t. Cas would kill me if he found out I told you.”

Sam nodded. He kind of wished he had someone to talk to about these revelations, but it was understandable that Gabe would want to keep it on the down-low.

“You know, in my time Dean and Cas are real good friends. They do everything together.” He grinned at the thought. Dean and Cas had been mistaken for a couple more times than either of them would care to admit. It had been a source of much amusement for Sam and Gabe.

“Really?” Gabe said with amusement. “How do they even know each other?”

“They met when you and I started…hanging out,” Sam said.

“We must be ‘real good friends’ too then, if our families know each other,” he said, looking Sam over.

“We sure are.”


	7. Chapter 7

After ‘Ed’s’ revelation the night before, Sam awoke in a much better mood than he had since they’d arrived. Their bleak situation felt all the more manageable knowing that Gabe was there to help him through it.

Sunday was Gabe’s day off, and he’d agreed to spend the afternoon with Sam so they could talk more. They’d decided to go to the bar where they’d had their awkward encounter on Friday and play pool. Sam hoped he’d be able to pluck up the courage to ask him for dinner afterwards.

“I really don’t think Ed’s going to care how you look Sammy,” Dean said, not looking up from his research. “Like, three days ago he told you you look like a hobo.” Per Gabriel’s request, Sam hadn’t told him Ed’s true identity. He hoped Gabe might change his mind, but for now, Ed and Jimmy were to stay Ed and Jimmy.

He had spent a pathetic amount of time deciding what to wear for someone who only had four outfits at most. In the end, he decided on his old jeans (with belt) and one of the new white t-shirts he’d bought for Dean, along with the brown jacket he had upon arrival.

“Do I look okay?” he asked Dean.

“Like a taller, sexier James Dean.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Is it just me or does this sound a lot like a date?” Dean grinned.

“It’s not a date,” Sam said firmly. “We’re just meeting up to…chat. Not do anything that might get us arrested.”

“Oooh, how dangerous? That doesn’t make it more exciting to you?”

“Dean! That’s not funny. It’s a very serious issue.”

“Okay, sorry,” Dean said, holding up his hands. “So, what are you waiting for? When are you meeting him?”

“When he gets home from church,” he explained. “He’s picking me up here.” The thought of Gabe in church really tickled Sam, especially now that he knew what he knew. When he’d asked him about it, Gabe said they had to ‘keep up appearances’.

He hovered by the window from mid-day onwards, until Dean told him to sit down and stop being such a distraction. He couldn’t help feeling nervous. They still weren’t completely on the same page, and technically (and chronologically) this was their first date. He didn’t even know what they were going to talk about. He shouldn’t tell anyone here about the future. He did however, have a million questions about being an angel.

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard Gabe’s car honking outside. Dean looked up and gave him a grin. “You kids have fun now!”

“Bite me Dean,” Sam muttered as he pulled the door closed behind him. Gabe’s car was some kind of old red Chevy with white-wall tyres. Kinda flashy for Sam’s taste but he thought it suited Gabe down to the ground. Seeing it in the cold light of day, he suddenly realised what he was looking at. “Oh my God, this is an Impala.”

“Sure is,” Gabe said as Sam slid into the passenger seat. “You like it?”

“Yeah. My brother drives an Impala. In fact, he built the time machine into it!”

“No kidding. I bet a 2014 Impala looks like a spacecraft,” Gabe said, pulling out of the motel parking lot.

“It sure does, but Dean’s is from the 60s. He bought it from our dad.”

“Sounds like Dean’s a nostalgic kind of guy. No wonder you ended up in the 50s.”

“Actually,” Sam said, figuring there was no point keeping secrets anymore, “we ended up here by accident. We were in a hurry and Dean set the clock wrong.”

“You were in a hurry? When you have a time machine?”

“We were, uh, trying to get away from the cops.” Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“Are you a criminal Sam? Am I going to have to take you to the police?” Gabe said with a grin.

“Uh…Dean stole some uranium to power the time machine.”

“What?” Gabe shouted, swerving badly onto the wrong side of the road.

 _Oops. Cold War_ , Sam reminded himself. “Relax, it’s a little easier to get your hands on in 2014.”

“If you say so,” Gabe said hesitantly. “So…you want to get something to eat first or go straight to beer?”

“There’s a hotdog cart in the town square I’ve been wanting to try out.”

Gabe snorted. “That stupid adorable old man is going to put me out of business.”

“Well, we don’t have to…”

“No, it’s fine,” Gabe said, waving a hand. “Know thine enemy, right? I should scope out the competition.”

They drove down a street beside the bar where Gabe parked and walked to the square to the hotdog stand.

“Two please,” Sam said to the old guy standing at the cart.

“So Ray,” Gabe said, squaring up to the man. “How’s business, out here, right by my restaurant?”

Ray looked a little startled. “It’s fine Ed.”

“I hope you haven’t been stealing my customers, looking all old and sweet,” Gabe said, crossing his arms across his chest. “Why would anyone want a hotdog off the street when they could have the best burger in town?”

“Uh…Ed? Maybe you should take it easy. We did just order one of those hotdogs off the street.”

Gabe narrowed his eyes at Ray. “I’ll be watching you…” he said, pointing at Ray’s chest.

Sam gave him an apologetic look when they were leaving with their hotdogs. “What the hell was that?” he asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

Gabe grinned. “Just trying to put the fear of God into him. Do you think he was scared?”

“Probably!” he laughed.

They sat down on one of the benches outside town hall with their hotdogs. Sam hadn’t really spent all that much time observing the changes to Hill Valley, so he sat back and enjoyed the view.

“This must look pretty backwards to you,” Gabriel said when he saw him looking around.

“Not really,” he said, “there are fewer cars around, but everything just looks…better.”

“How so?” Gabe asked curiously.

“The buildings actually have businesses in them for a start. Everything’s so clean and new. The clock on the town hall actually tells the time!” It was nice to have someone to tell these things to. Dean barely seemed to notice where he was and just gave a dismissive ‘uh huh’ any time Sam tried to point out anything cool.

“Go figure,” Gabe said contemplatively. “What about me? Tell me about me! How do we know each other?”

Sam hesitated. He probably shouldn’t be telling Gabe anything about the future, never mind about himself, but he thought an angel would probably know what to do with that information. “Well…we went to the same college and lived in the same dorm. We always met in the halls and that’s how we became….friends.”

“Friends,” Gabe repeated. “What else?”

“Well, you said you’d just moved into town,” he went on.

“Makes sense. I can’t really stay in the same place too long or people start to notice I don’t look any older.”

“Right,” Sam said, deciding to worry about the implications of that some other time. “You were studying something in IT and got a job straight out of college.”

“What the hell is IT?” Gabe asked, screwing his face up.

“Oh, uh, like computers. We use them everywhere, even in my cell phone.” Sam said, realising how weird that must sound when the average computer in 1955 takes up a whole building.

“Huh…” Gabe replied. “And everyone knows me as Gabriel?”

“Yeah, Gabriel Milton,” he said.

“Milton,” Gabe said with a grin. “My sister used to go by that name.”

That took Sam by surprise. “Sister? You never mentioned a sister before.”

Gabe shrugged. “It’s not exactly a traditional family. I have hundreds of brothers and sisters. I’ve never even met most of them…They all know me though, after that gig in Nazareth? Everyone wants a piece of Gabriel.” He said exasperated. “That’s why I spend so much time on earth.”

Sam stared, open mouthed, suddenly feeling slightly star-struck. He let out a pathetic squeak.

“Oh crap. I’m sorry. That isn’t something I usually bring up around humans,” Gabe said quickly.

“Humans?” Sam said weakly.

“Why don’t _we_ get _you_ that beer?” Gabe said, pulling him to his feet. He led him to Montgomery’s bar and deposited him in a booth in the corner.

Somehow, the whole angel thing was just starting to sink in. His boyfriend isn’t human. His boyfriend won’t age. His boyfriend is already thousands of years old. His boyfriend is mentioned in every Christmas Carol ever written. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

Gabe returned moments later with a beer for Sam and a bottle of Pepsi for himself. “You aren’t having one?” he asked.

“Nah, I just want something sweet, and since I can’t drink you…” Gabe said casually.

Sam almost choked on his mouthful of beer. “What?” he coughed out.

“Woah, relax kiddo. I was just joking.” he said, putting his hands up in surrender.

Sam sighed. “Sorry Gabe, I’m just a little on edge.”

“No problem,” Gabe said and smiled. “It’s so weird hearing you call me that. _No one_ calls me Gabriel. Not even Cas. Even when we’re alone it’s strictly Ed and Jimmy.”

Sam smiled, relaxing a little. “I had a hard time remembering to call you Ed.”

Gabe grinned and took a drink of his Pepsi. “Hey, why don’t you tell me about that special lady you got back home?”

Sam wasn’t sure what to say. Should he just tell Gabe they’re a couple? He’s an angel for God’s sake. He’s bound to be able to handle it. He chickened out just as he began to talk. “She’s uh, really beautiful. Long fair hair, golden eyes. We moved in together last year.”

“You’re married?”

“Uh, no. It’s normal to live together for a while first.” Sam left out the fact that they currently couldn’t get married, even of they’d wanted to. “We’ve talked about it though.”

“If you’re not married, does she work?”

“She uh…works in IT as well.”

“Huh,” Gabe said, looking fascinated. “This IT business must be pretty profitable.”

“I told you, it’s everywhere.”

They kept chatting all afternoon and even played a few games of pool. Sam had to try extremely hard not to stare as Gabe leaned over the table to line up his shots. He had a weird feeling Gabe was being less discreet.

After such a pleasant afternoon, Sam was reluctant to go back to the motel, but couldn’t think of any good reason to keep Gabe there, and didn’t want to sound too eager.

“Time to call it a day big guy?” Gabe said, perhaps a hint of regret in his voice.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Sam conceded.

In the way back to the car, he was struck with a flash of inspiration. “Hey,” he said, stopping and turning to Gabe. “You wanna see it?”

“See what?” Gabe said, looking suspicious.

“The car!” Sam said. “The time machine! It’s only a few blocks from here. Dean’s keeping it at the university.

Gabe didn’t even hesitate. “I’d love to,” he said with a smile, “but won’t your brother be mad?”

“Not if he doesn’t find out,” Sam grinned. He suddenly had a flashback to when he was 16 and he had stolen the car to go on a date with Rachel Brown. Dean never found out.

“Well then let’s go!”

Sam started walking back to the car, but stopped when Gabe didn’t follow.

“What to see something cool?” he asked, looking mischievous.

“Sure,” Sam laughed.

Gabe reached up and placed two fingers on Sam’s forehead. In an instant, everything around them changed and they were standing outside the college. He heard the unmistakable flapping of wings and looked at Gabe in surprise.

“Was that…” he started, unable to finish his sentence.

“Yup!” Gabe grinned.

“Can I see?”

“Nope! Not visible to humans. They’re there, you just can’t perceive them.”

The side entrance to the physics department would be locked on a Sunday, so they’d have to go through the front door and hope there was no one around to ask any awkward questions. Sam didn’t really know where he was going, but Gabe seemed to, and led them straight to the physics department.

“In here,” Sam said. He reached for the door handle but found it locked. “Aw, damnit. I should’ve known Dean would have it locked away. Sorry buddy.”

“Uh, hello? Angel?” Gabe said. He held his palm out towards the lock, and moments later the door swung open.

“I could get used to this,” Sam said, trying to hide the awe he was feeling. He stepped aside and let Gabriel enter the room first before switching on the light.

“Woah!” Gabe said upon seeing the car in person for the first time. “This is…quite something.”

Sam smiled at being able to show an archangel something that made him say ‘woah’. “This is what brought me here,” he said, stepping closer.

“So, you really did have car trouble all this time!” Gabe said with a grin. “Though I don’t think Mr Singer would be much help.”

Sam had been tempted a couple of times to go and pay Mr Singer a visit. He was dying to meet Bobby’s father or grandfather, but he decided showing up without a car might make things a little awkward.

Gabe walked around the Impala, giving it an appraising look. He paused to look at the huge pile of machinery on the trunk and turned to Sam. “One of your brother’s additions?”

Sam snorted. “Yeah. Trust me, it looks a lot better without any of this crap. Actually…” he suddenly remembered his cell phone was still in his pocket, “I have a picture!” He turned the phone on and found a picture of the Impala. It was a picture Dean had taken from behind of Gabriel and Sam leaning against the car looking out over a cliff. Sam had his arm around Gabe’s shoulders, but he thought it was safe enough to show him.

Gabe took the phone and gave a half-laugh. “That could take some getting used to.” He studied the picture, looking up occasionally to compare it to the time machine. “Your brother’s either an genius or insane.”

“I think he might be both,” Sam laughed.

Gabe handed back the phone when the screen timed out and went black. “The people in the photo…that’s you and me.”

“Yeah,” Sam said apprehensively.

“You have your arm around me,” Gabe said, not giving away what he thought about that.

“Yeah, well it was cold and I’m a good height for keeping you warm.”

Gabe gave a small nod. “You got any more pictures on that thing?”

Sam hesitated. He knew what Gabe would find if he started looking though Sam’s pictures. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“You’re probably right.” Gabe paused, looking like he had more to say.

“You alright?” Sam asked taking a step closer.

“I want you to be honest with me Sam, because I’ll know if you’re lying, okay?” Gabe said seriously.

“Oh. Sure, I guess,” Sam said, his heart racing.

“That special someone you have back home. It’s me, isn’t it?”

Sam took a deep breath and let it out slowly, giving Gabe a nod.

Gabe didn’t say anything at first. He just returned Sam’s nod and stared into his eyes. It was probably the most serious Sam had ever seen him. Eventually he said, “I need to sit down.”

Sam looked around for a chair, and finding none, opened the car door. Gabe sat down, his feet still on the ground, and Sam crouched down in front of him. “Are you surprised?”

Gabriel thought about it for a moment. “Honestly, not really. It’s still a lot to take in.”

“If you want to leave, I’ll understand,” Sam said desperately hoping he wouldn’t be taken up on that offer.

Gabe didn’t say anything, he just stood up, and Sam followed his lead. After a moment’s contemplation, Gabe grabbed hold of Sam’s collar and pulled him down into a kiss. Sam moaned softly. It was so warm and familiar and felt like home. He hooked an arm around Gabe, pulling him onto his toes and cupped his face gently. Their lips moved together as Sam tried to take in every detail of what was technically their first kiss. The smell of Gabe’s cologne, the taste of him on his lips, the way he felt in his arms. It was like every kiss they’d ever shared and yet completely different. This Gabe was pliant and willing. It gave Sam shivers.

Gabe was the first to break contact. He wrapped both his arms around Sam’s waist and held him tightly, nestling his head against Sam’s chest. “I felt it you know. The first time we met I knew we had a connection.”

“Is that why you were looking at my butt?” Sam grinned.

“I was looking at your butt because your freaky purple underpants were on display for the world to see!”

“I should’ve known,” Sam mused. “You were way too excited to dress me up like a doll. And you couldn’t wait to get your hands in my hair.”

“Your hair is hard to resist,” Gabe said dreamily.

“When I first met you, your hair was at least as long as mine.”

“You’re kidding,” Gabe said, breaking away and taking a step back.

“Nope,” Sam laughed as Gabriel stared up at him.

“Hey Sammy? You uh…wanna come back to my place?” Gabe said quietly, the implication clear.

“Won’t Cas be there?” Sam pointed out.

“Oh yeah,” Gabe said sadly.

“I’m not sure I could wait that long anyway,” Sam muttered.

“Get in the car,” Gabe said suddenly.

Sam grinned. That sounded more like the Gabriel he knew. “When did you get so demanding?”

“Hey, remember who you’re dealing with buddy boy,” Gabe said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Sam assured him. “I’m just happy I got to kiss you.”

“What? No! Of course I want to do it,” Gabe said, sounding panicked all of a sudden. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Sam shrugged. “It’s kind’ve dangerous. There are security guards walking around the building. We could get in trouble!”

Gabe laughed. “That’s meant to make it sound less appealing?”

Sam grinned. There was the Gabe he knew. The same Gabe who once broke into an Ikea at night to try having sex on one of their mattresses before buying it. The Gabe who tried to jack Sam off in the car while driving through the McDonald’s Drive-Thru. “I see your point,” he laughed, before sitting down in the Impala’s front seat, his feet still planted on the ground and his head almost touching the roof. Gabe looked him over like he was deciding what to do with him.

“Take off your shirt,” Gabe instructed, crossing his arms.

Sam was torn between putting on a show and getting naked as fast as possible. Under Gabriel’s appraising eye, he couldn’t fight the urge to show off a bit. He pulled his shirt out of his pants and slowly started lifting the hem over his stomach. Gabe didn’t so much as blink as Sam revealed more of his abdomen. He hadn’t worked out in over a week (and had been surviving on a fairly bread-based diet) but his muscles were still unmistakable.

Gabe let out a small gasp. “Well there’s something you don’t see every day,” he said breathily.

“You do,” Sam said with a smug grin.

Gabe stepped forward to the space between Sam’s knees. He pushed Sam’s hands off his shirt and continued lifting it up his body. He raised his arms to let Gabe pull it over his head, flexing slightly as he did so. With a satisfied smile, Gabe shoved him back onto the leather seat and climbed on top of him, a knee on each side of Sam’s waist.

Sam couldn’t help gasping as Gabe leaned down and kissed him. He was feeling desperate and hungry for the other man, but Gabriel’s kiss was calm and controlled. He did his best to relax and allow Gabe to take the lead. Without warning, Gabe broke the kiss, leaving Sam’s lips reaching uselessly at thin air. Sam shivered when he felt Gabe’s breath against his ear. After a few moments, he whispered, “If we don’t get to do this again for another 60 years, I’m going to remember every inch of you.”

Sam could do nothing but nod silently in agreement. He could feel Gabe’s lips against his ear before they moved down to his neck. Gabe kissed along his jawline, almost reaching his other ear, before creeping lower. He stopped briefly on Sam’s adam’s apple, pressing his teeth gently to the skin there in a silent threat. Sam swallowed hard making Gabe huff out a laugh.

“Relax Sammy,” he said softly, “I won’t leave any evidence.” He smoothed his hands over Sam’s chest, his fingers lingering a moment on Sam’s nipples. He shuffled a little lower and laid a trail of kisses along Sam’s collar bone.

Sam lifted a hand and combed his fingers through Gabe’s shorter hair. Everything about Gabe was so familiar and comfortable, but his hair took Sam by surprise every time he saw it. Gabe smiled against Sam’s chest and kept moving lower, kissing every square inch of his chest and abdomen, and licking a ring around his navel. When he reached the waistband of Sam’s jeans, he sat up and climbed out of the car.

“Whu?” Sam said pathetically in protest.

“Relax, I’m not going anywhere,” he said, before crouching down and untying Sam’s shoes. He pulled them off one at a time, followed by his socks, before reaching up and opening Sam’s belt and fly. Sam lifted his hips so Gabe could pull them off and toss them into the garage behind him. Sam took the initiative to push down his underwear while he was at it.

“I’m a little disappointed you’re not wearing the purple shorts,” Gabe said, throwing Sam’s white jockeys over his shoulder.

Sam laughed. “You bought those for me you know!”

“You’re kidding,” Gabe said, sitting up on his knees and shuffling forward. “So you’re saying in the future I lose all sense of taste?”

Sam propped himself up on his elbows so he could see what Gabe was doing. “I like them. And you said they made you feel ‘nostalgic’. I just figured you had some as a kid of something.”

Gabe just smiled up at him and shrugged. He placed an elbow on each of Sam’s thighs and leaned his head towards his crotch. He didn’t touch Sam’s dick, instead planting kisses on his hipbones, just inside his thighs, and eventually, his balls. Sam moaned loudly as Gabe took one in his mouth and sucked briefly, before doing the same with the other.

When Gabe started moving his kisses down Sam’s thighs, Sam sat forward. “Hey, I thought you said ‘every inch’! You missed a few,” he huffed.

Gabe didn’t even lift his head, he just kept moving down Sam’s leg, stopping every now and then to repeat the motion on the other leg. He didn’t stop until he had reached Sam’s feet and planted a kiss on each toe.

Sam lay back and sighed. He’d never felt so exposed, but he knew he was in good hands. This was Gabe after all.

“Time to turn over big guy,” Gabe said, standing up beside the car.

“But,” Sam began to protest, however the look Gabe was giving him made it hard to refuse. His dick was now fully at attention, and it pressed against his stomach, almost painfully, when he flipped onto his front.

He could hear Gabe shedding his clothes behind him, but he got little time to recover as Gabe straddled his thighs moments later. When Gabe leaned forward to continue his exploration of Sam’s body, Sam could feel his hard member resting in the crack of his ass.

He began by pressing his lips to the nape of Sam’s neck, then moved along each of his shoulder blades. He moved down Sam’s spine, his hands gripping the taller man’s sides, until he couldn’t bend any lower.

Gabe shuffled back down Sam’s legs, and Sam sighed contentedly when Gabe’s lips finally reached his ass. Gabe pulled the cheeks apart and laid one last kiss against Sam’s hole. “This okay?” he asked hopefully.

Sam was unable to mask his enthusiasm. “God, yes.”

“Um, let’s just stick with Gabriel for now, okay?” Gabe said, before licking a circle around the rim of Sam’s hole.

Sam braced himself for Gabe opening him up with his tongue, but it never happened. He looked over his shoulder to find Gabe coating his fingers with a slick, clear liquid. “Huh? Where did that come from?” he asked in surprise. Maybe Gabe had been expecting more from their non-date after all.

Gabe held up his left hand, looking smug. “Angel,” he said simply.

“Oh, now that’s useful,” Sam replied when he realised what Gabe meant. He lay back down, resting his chin on crossed arms, and tried to relax as Gabe probed gently at his ass with lubed fingertips.

Gabe took his time opening Sam up. One finger at a time, he gently spread the lube inside, until he was ready to take another finger. By the time he added the fourth, Sam was writhing on his hand, trying to avoid rubbing his cock against the leather seats of the Impala. The last thing he wanted to do now was come too soon. “That’s enough,” he gasped, “hurry up and get in me!”

Gabe either chose to ignore him or didn’t hear, instead he kept twisting his fingers and gently moving them in and out.

“Come on man!” Sam whined, “I’m not gonna last!” He focused everything he had on not coming, but Gabe was relentless. He turned his fingers and started rapidly hitting Sam’s prostate. Sam knew he was screwed. His eyes had grown heavy and were practically watering. “Damnit Gabe,” he moaned as his cock pulsed between his stomach and the car seat, spilling come onto the leather.

“There’s a good boy,” Gabe said with satisfaction, before getting out of the car. “Now flip over. I want to see your face while we do it.”

“You’re kidding,” Sam panted, but did as he was told anyway.

With a wave of Gabe’s hand, the semen on Sam’s body vanished and Sam realised he was getting hard again. He looked up at Gabe in surprise.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” he said with a grin as he positioned himself between Sam’s legs. He hooked an arm under each of Sam’s legs and lifted them onto his shoulders.

“Wait, do you have a condom?” Sam asked before Gabe could go any further.

Gabe gave him a confused look. “Just because I’m an angel doesn’t mean I can get you pregnant…I mean, I could, but not like this.”

Sam chose to ignore that particular revelation. “No, it’s so neither of us catches anything.” Sam quickly realised the pointlessness of this conversation.

“Like what?” Gabe asked seriously.

“Diseases,” Sam said slowly.

“Relax buddy. I’m an angel. I can’t ‘catch’ anything and I sure as hell won’t give anything to you.”

“Look, forget it. Just…wear ‘em from now on, okay?”

“Fine.” And with that, Gabe lined up his cock and pushed in slowly. After the onslaught from Gabe’s fingers, they slotted together easily, and Gabe was soon pumping in and out of Sam’s ass.

Within minutes, Sam was climbing towards his second orgasm. He reached for his cock and squeezed the base to stave off his climax for as long as possible.

“Here, let me,” Gabe said when he saw what Sam was doing. He pushed his hand away and replaced it with his own, but instead of squeezing again, he started pumping it in time with his own thrusts.

“Gabe!” Sam moaned.

“It’s okay kid, I’m right with you,” Gabe panted, and Sam finally felt him come inside him.

It wasn’t long before Sam was coming too. He let out a deep breath and dropped his head to the car seat behind him. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered, mostly to himself.

Gabe carefully pulled out and laid himself down on Sam’s chest, covering both their chests in come in the process. “Like I said, let’s stick with Gabe.”

-o-o-

It was like their first time again. Technically, it was their first time. It felt new and exciting, and Sam couldn’t help thinking Gabe might have gotten a few ideas for their other first time together. And they’d had sex in the Impala! Dean would kill them both if he ever found out (at least he’d try). Sam couldn’t help thinking that made it all the more exciting.

“So what’s wrong with the car anyway?” Gabe said dreamily, sprawled out over Sam’s chest.

“Remember I said it was powered by Uranium? Well we accidentally used it all up on the journey here, and it turns out, it’s not so easy to get your hands on in 1955.” Sam had considered all sorts of options for finding more Uranium. He’d even found out where the nearest Nuclear Facility was, but it was hundreds of miles away and that was the least of their problems.

“That’s true,” Gabe said. “Isn’t there something else that could power it?”

“Dean says it requires 1.21 gigawatts of power, whatever that means, and there’s nothing around here that comes even close to reaching that,” he said with a shrug.

Gabriel shifted and propped himself up on his elbows, looking down at Sam seriously. “I can.”

“Excuse me?” Sam said, not really following.

“I said I can do that. I can produce all the power I want. They don’t call me archangel for being a messenger boy you know.”

Sam was dumfounded. “You’re serious, you could get us back?”

Gabe shrugged. “Of course, it’d be easy. Of course, I’d rather keep you here, but I’ll see you again in 60 years, right?” he shuffled back out of the car and allowed Sam to stand up. With a click of Gabe’s fingers the dried come on both their bodies vanished.

Sam followed him out of the car and started gathering up his clothes. “God Gabe, just when I thought I couldn’t love you any more.”

Gabriel gave a nervous laugh and pulled his pants back on. “It’s really no problem. We can do it tonight if you guys are ready.”

Sam stopped and looked at Gabe. “I was looking forward to getting to know you again…”

“I told you, I’ll see you in 60 years. That’s nothing to me, I promise,” he said with a hint of regret in his voice.

“I’ll have to tell Dean about you,” Sam pointed out.

“It’s fine. I’m sure he would have found out sooner or later."


	8. Chapter 8

“Dean!” Sam shouted, throwing open the motel room door to find Dean still sitting at the table with his research. “Gabriel can get us home. Tonight!”

Dean barely seemed to notice Sam’s arrival. He looked up calmly and gave him that sympathetic look he’d perfected. “What are you talking about Sammy? Gabe’s not here. And even if he was, this is a hardware problem. I’m not sure he’d be much help.”

“No, not that Gabe. Ed! Ed is Gabriel, and he’s going to help us get home. Grab anything you want to take with you and come on!” he went to the chest of drawers and started stuffing his clothes into a plastic bag.

Dean stood up and went to sit on the bed beside him. “Sam. Use your big boy words and tell me what’s going on here.”

Sam realised he hadn’t actually conveyed any of the information he’d planned and stopped what he was doing. He sat down on the bed opposite Dean and tried to get his thoughts in order. “Ok. First of all, Ed really is Gabriel. Gabriel’s an angel.”

The look on Dean’s face told Sam he’d already lost him. “Sammy, what are you talking about?”

“He’s an angel! You know…the Angel Gabriel? He’s real, and he’s Gabriel,” Sam said, trying to sound as sane as possible.

“That’s impossible,” Dean said calmly and seriously. “And you sound crazy.”

“I’d have said the same thing about time travel a week ago,” Sam said, raising an eyebrow. “But that’s not the important part. He can create the power we need to power that flux thing. We can go home Dean!”

“You look serious,” Dean said warily.

“I am serious!” Sam almost shouted, before remembering he was trying to appear rational.

Dean still looked really unconvinced and sighed heavily. “Look man, you sound insane, but at this point I’m willing to try anything. If Ed or Gabe or whoever that is thinks he can help, then let’s give him a shot.” He got up and started gathering together his research and shoving it into his leather satchel.

Sam went to the window and beckoned Gabe, who was waiting in his car, inside. “Dean’s on board,” he said when Gabe entered the room.

“Great,” Gabriel said. “I’ve been thinking. Didn’t you say the police were after Dean in your time?”

“Sam!” Dean groaned. “Why would you tell him that?”

Gabe ignored him and went on, “Won’t they still be after you when you get back?”

Sam and Dean exchanged a look. “Shit, he’s right,” Dean muttered.

“Listen, don’t worry about it. I can fix that. I just need to know what I’m fixing,” Gabe said.

“He stole uranium from the university,” Sam provided.

Gabe shook his head in disappointment. “Dean Dean Dean, you naughty thing.”

Dean made an offended noise and looked to Sam for a defence. “You’re on your own man, that’s all you.”

When they had gathered together everything they wanted to bring home, Gabe gave Sam a questioning look. “You want me to drive or…flappy flappy?”

“Let’s just go as quickly as possible, huh?” Sam said, worrying slightly about how Dean was going to react.

Without any pre-warning, Gabe reached up and placed two fingers on each of their foreheads, and within an instant, they were at the university, in the physics department, standing by the Impala.

Dean looked like he was about to faint. “What the hell was that?”

“I told you,” Sam Said. “Angel.”

Dean was trying very hard to act unphased, but was failing miserably. “So…uh, we need to move the car outside to a road or something,” he said, opening the car door and getting in as fast as he could.

Sam and Gabe exchanged a look. “I’ll just put all our stuff in the car then?” Sam said with a grin. “And Gabe, could you open the garage door?”

Gabe reached out his hand towards the door and flicked it up, sliding the door open in one slick movement. Sam had a feeling Gabe was just showing off now.

Dean eased the Impala out the door and drove it slowly around the front of the building to the road. Sam and Gabe followed along behind. When he reached the road he stopped for Sam and Gabe to get in.

“We need to find a long quiet road that’ll allow us to get to 88 miles per hour,” Sam explained. “Somewhere that’ll still be there in 2014.”

“How about the road by Old Man Peabody’s? Out by his weird pine tree farm,” Gabe suggested.

“Isn’t that where we arrived Dean?” Sam prompted.

 Dean seemed startled by the mention of his own name. “Oh! Yeah, that would be fine,” he said, staring straight ahead.

“Okay, good,” Gabe said, “but you need to go back the other way.”

“Right, sorry,” Dean said, before doing a U-turn (without looking) and speeding towards their destination.

Sam had to marvel at Dean’s behaviour. When it came to science, he was perfectly willing to accept the impossible. The man had built a freaking time machine! But the idea that there could be angels (something millions of people willingly believe) turned him into a stammering mess. “Dean?” he said, “Why don’t you tell Gabriel what he needs to do?”

“Oh…sure,” Dean muttered. He glanced over his shoulder at the angel sitting in the back seat and gave a nervous laugh. “As soon as the car reaches 88 miles per hour, it needs 1.21 gigawatts directly into the flux capacitor. You can do that?”

“Sure,” Gabe said, “What’s the flux capacitor?”

“That thing beside you,” Sam said, pointing to the y-shaped component before Dean could throw out a few more made up words.

“You’ll have to do it from outside the car,” Dean explained, “or um…pop out as soon as you do it or you’ll get brought back with us and…apparently we already have one of you.”

Gabe poked Sam in the back of the head and chuckled. “I don’t think Sammy would mind _that_.”

Sam rolled his eyes and felt his cheeks burning. “One is plenty, thank you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get out in time.”

The lack of traffic on the road meant they arrived at the farm within minutes. They all got out of the car so Dean could perform a few last minute checks. Sam and Gabe went to stand by the side of the road.

“So I guess this is goodbye kiddo,” Gabe said sadly. “I’ll see you in 60 years.”

“I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Sam said, giving Gabe a sad smile. “You’ll be able to replace the uranium Dean stole?”

“No problem at all, the earth’s full of it. I’ll meet you here when you get back.”

“October 24th 2014 at 4am,” Sam reminded him. “This’ll be the Twin Pines mall by then.”

“No kidding.”

“Hey lovebirds,” Dean called from the car. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Sam leaned down and gave 1950s Gabe one last quick kiss. As he straightened up and headed back towards the car, he felt Gabe tugging on his arm.

“Oh no you don’t,” Gabe said threateningly. “You can do better than that. This kiss had to keep me going for 60 years!”

Sam laughed and wheeled back around. He cupped his hand around the back of Gabe’s neck and tilted his head up, forcing Gabe onto his toes. Their lips pressed together gently, but they were soon devouring one another hungrily. Gabe seemed to want to explore every square inch of Sam’s mouth while he still could. At the sound of Dean loudly clearing his throat, Sam reluctantly broke away. “Guess we better get going,” he muttered.

“I’m sure going to miss you big guy.”

“It’ll be 2011 before you know it and I’ll be moving into the same dorm as you.”

They went back to the car and Sam slid in beside Dean while Gabe got into the back seat. Dean set the date on the chronograph to

**Oct 24 2073, 04:00am**

“I still got a little Nitrous Oxide left,” Dean told them, “so it should be quick. I’ll shout when we hit 88 miles per hour.”

“Roger that,” Gabe said. “Good luck guys.”

"Hey uh, Gabe?" Dean said, "Say goodbye to Jimmy for me?"

Gabe leaned forward and gave Dean's shoulder a little squeeze. "No problem buddy."

Dean took a deep breath and started the engine. They were soon accelerating along the road and gaining speed fast. “Hitting the NOS now,” Dean warned them, and the car pulled forwards even quicker.

Sam looked over his shoulder and gave Gabriel an encouraging smile.

“Almost there,” Dean shouted over the roar of the engine. The speedometer read 80 miles per hour and was still climbing. “Now!” Dean shouted as the needle hit 88.

All at once, the car was filled with a blinding white light from the back seat. Their surroundings changed entirely as early evening turned into early morning and familiar buildings lined the side of the road. Dean slammed on the breaks and they came to a stop within seconds.

“It worked,” Dean said breathlessly. “The little feathery dude did it!”

Sam collapsed against the back of the seat. They were finally home. His first instinct was to take out his phone in case Gabe had tried to contact him. He took great comfort from his phone being able to find a signal and telling him the correct date and time. There was just one message from Gabe:

_The college have realised their mistake and called off the police. See you soon._

He showed it to Dean who visibly relaxed.

The Twin Pines mall was right beside them and Sam’s car was still in the parking lot. “Everything’s the same,” Dean muttered. “We spent a week in 1955 but only a couple of hours have passed.”

Dean drove Sam to his car and they both got out for a quick hug.

“You really did it buddy,” Sam said with a genuine smile, “but next time maybe you should make sure you’ve brought enough fuel to get you home, huh?”

Dean laughed. “Or I could just bring Gabe. Or Cas…who I just realised must also be an angel.”

“Yup,” Sam grinned.

“All right then,” dean said before mumbling a bewildered goodbye and driving off.

As Sam opening his car door, he heard the unmistakable flapping of wings behind him. He spun around to find Gabriel standing 10 feet away from him.

“Hey Sam,” Gabe said simply.

“Hey angel.” Sam suddenly couldn’t think of anything else to say, he just gestured vaguely towards Gabe.

“Sorry I never warned you. I didn’t want to mess with the future or free will and all that stuff…”

“An angel?” Sam blurted out.

“Yeah…I’m pretty sure we covered that in 1955.”

“I can’t believe you remember all that,” Sam said, leaning against the car for support.

“Here, I have something to show you,” Gabe said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a penny and two quarters and handed them to Sam. “I picked these up in the bar after you accidentally flashed your modern $5 bill and what I eventually realised what your driver’s license.”

Sam examined the dates on the coins. One quarter was made in 2010, the other in 2013 and the penny in 2005. “Wow, no wonder you believed me so quickly.”

“I thought they were fake at first but when you told me about the time machine, it certainly helped.” He came and stood against the car beside him. “Nice hairstyle,” he said with a grin, “and that is a very snugly fitting shirt.”

Sam laughed, remembering he was still dressed for his non-date with 1950s Gabe. “Yeah, well, you would know.” he paused for a moment until his curiosity got the best of him. “What happened to you after we left?” he asked.

“Cas and I left town not long after. Apparently Old Man Peabody saw us kissing and told everyone in town. I’d been there too long anyway.”

“Oh God Gabe, I’m sorry!”

He shrugged. “I’m over it.”

“I guess I know why you were so confident when you first asked me out,” Sam said.

He laughed. “Yeah, you had already seduced me!”

“No I didn’t!” Sam said, indignant. “You kissed me!”

“Only after you showed me your suggestive photo.”

“The point is…the first time we had sex was in 1955 in a car built in 1967. Not many people can say that.”

“The worst part is,” Gabe said, turning serious. “Now you know I’m not really 23!”

“Or 31…” Sam said preferring not to think about that particular detail.

“Let’s get you home,” Gabe sighed. “We can talk about it later. Right now, I want to teach you a little something about angelic stamina.”


End file.
